The Swarm War
by DrakeTheTraveller
Summary: A human is sent on a important mission to Lylat a newly discovered system with a strange new alien race to help them against humanities greatest foe he is a diehard soldier with a tragic past. How will he cope in this new environment will he win or will Lylat be plunged into darkness.
1. Chapter 1

The Swarm War

Year 2852

Date March "15"

In the pitch black depths of space a rupture in space and time emerged. It's iridescent and vibrant colors highlighted the massive ship that formed out of its core. The ship was utilitarian in appearance and was bristling with firepower. On the Side of the ship a symbol could be seen against the ships black hull. An emblem depicting two swords crossed with a shield in front emblazoned with a snarling wolfs head. The ship was a leviathan easily 20km from bow to stern. And could be classified as an uber dreadnought.

Yet only one life laid in its massive depths a single man no more then twenty years old. He was tall reaching a height of 6ft and 9in. He was a Carmel colored man with black buzz cut hair and piercing brown eyes. A certain warmth seemed to emanate from them yet also strangely they seemed to hold a depth of sadness almost as if he had suffered greatly in the past. He was bulky and muscular with many scars criss crossing all over his body like some sick game of tic tac toe. He was clearly a man accustomed to war and violence.

The man was currently resting in the captains cabin when he was awoken by a soft kind and feminine voice. "Varrus it's time to get up we've nearly arrived at our destination". The mans eyes shot open he groggily rubbed them and clambered out of his cot. He replied to the voice in a deep rough gravelly voice "what time is it?" As he groaned the voice replied "3:45 am". He replied in a even bigger groan "why so early?" " you have to look presentable for our arrival" the voice stated. You must not to forget to take care of your amour and weapons."

"When do we arrive?" asked Varrus as he stumbled tiredly to to the cabins bathroom. "Once our slip space drive has recharged so approximately five hours" The voice said. He then proceeded to the bathroom to do as all people do In preparation for the day ahead. Then he returned from the bathroom and walked over to his closet and put on his pretor uniform.

The uniform consisted of deep black clothing with the pretor symbol on the shoulder and chest. The suit also had armor plates on the shoulders,chest,arms, and legs. All though nowhere near as comprehensive as his mark xi battle suit it still offered some protection from weapons fire. Then he put on his standard armored combat boots and exited the room. In the hallway he proceeded to the rail lift which took him to the armory.

Upon his arrival the pedestal next to the door flashed to life and there stood a anthromorphic wolfess. The wolf possessed black fur and long claws with red eyes that gave her a "feral" appearance. "Lupa" Varrus said as he strode into the armory what is the status of our contingent of battle droids?" "All twenty thousand are in storage and ready for activation" "excellent" Varrus replied. Then he walked over to his personal weapons racks where he retrieved his faithful mark xii MRAW (Multi Role Assault Weapon) his personal favorite nemesis force sword "Judgment" and his two blaster pistols "Faith" and "Fury". He took the stockpile of weapons to his workbench. Where he proceeded to tinker and fine tune them to perfection. "Lupa" he called out again "what's the status of my ship?" She materialized next to him and replied "hull and shields at maximum lance batteries and rail guns operational and all Armageddon cannons at peak efficiency. "Good how close are the drives to powering up?" Lupa took a moment then replied "they will be ready in 3 hours". "Damn"! Varrus growled "I'm running behind schedule".

He finished up at the workbench and the rushed over to his armor case. Where he plugged in his pass code at the keypad. Then he put in his thumbprint,eye scan,DNA test, and finally his life sign detector. The case popped open with a hiss spewing the heavily monitored air into the vast expanse of the armory. Varrus gazed up at the suit and could not help but smile as if reuniting with a long lost friend. The suit was easily 8ft tall with bulky shoulder pauldrons and a magnificently designed chest plate emblazoned with the emblem of the Pretoriate guard. The armor was painted in ebony with crimson trimming. The helmet was stylized as Corinthian with a visor as dark as blood. The majestic suit was adorned with a cape of the deepest black imaginable. Varrus then proceeded to intone the litanies of consecration as he prepared his armor for the trials ahead. Two hours later his armor serviced he proceeded to the lift and went towards the bridge.

When he arrived Lupa was waiting there to greet him. "Captain" she said "we will be ready in thirty minutes"

"All right" he replied. Then he stopped and thought for a second a frown forming on his chiseled face. "Why are we doing this again?" Lupa looked at him condescendingly "maybe if you paid attention during the brief you would remember we are hear to establish diplomatic ties with the newly discovered race dubbed cornerias which is why my appearance" she gestured towarda her body "is that of a wolf. So that I might help you acclimatize to your new environment". Varrus seemed puzzled "then why send me, a soldier and a huge warship?" She smiled "silly human we were the only available unit in the area to respond to this new race. All the others are occupied with the Great Enemy" Varrus proceeded to scowl "Don't remind me of those soulless abominations" he growled. Lupa frowned and turned her gaze to the floor her ears drooped and tail sagging. "Sorry Varrus I didn't mean to dredge up old painful memories" she whined.

"Wow now" he exclaimed "don't get all sad on me I can't stand seeing you upset" She eventually looked back up and smiled "sorry I'll refrain from that kind of stuff in the future". She pause for a moment "the slip space drives seem to be ready". Varrus walked over and sat in the captains chair and said "alright then fire up the slip space drive". Then in the pitch black depths of space a portal opened up once more and the leviathan of a ship slid back into the portal. Disappearing as if it was never there.


	2. Chapter 2

The Swarm War

Chapter 2

Cornerian Orbit

8:00 am

Orbiting the world of Corneria was a ship it was big by cornerias standard maybe 1Km long and was almost reminiscent of a bird of prey with four wings it's hull was a pure mix of white and grey and a few cannons could be seen stationed on the prow. This ship was no ordinary ship but the legendary vessel "The Great Fox" crewed by the famous star fox mercenary group. Or as most people think of them "The Saviors of Lylat".

In the ships captains cabin laid Fox Mcloud leader of this particular band of mercenaries. He was a red fox standing (although currently sleeping) at approximately 5'5 and cut a lean figure not really muscled as he was a star fighter pilot and was not often seen on the ground. His fur was a light red almost orange had piercing emerald eyes and a short muzzle which was tapered with white just like his hands,feet, and tail.

When suddenly he was jarred from his slumber by a annoying beeping noise emanating from his wrist computer which he proceeded to answer. "Fox here" he mumbled in respond to the call. A hologram emitted from the device revealing the aged face of a certain blood hound. "Fox I have urgent news you need to hear". When fox was finally fully coherent it dawned on him who he was being addressed by and he rocketed out of his bed and saluted. "General Pepper" he exclaimed "to what do I owe the pleasure" Peppers face was stoic and he responded " I have an important mission for you". Fox was all business "what do u need sir I'll see it done".

Pepper replied "I have a vital assignment for you that needs to start right now". Fox looked worried "but sir Andross has been defeated and finally slain what do u need now?" pepper looked tired as he responded "Fox I have something confidential to tell you, we discovered a new alien race a few months ago after encountering them on a deep space recon".

Fox was stunned "sir!" He exclaimed why wasn't the public informed, or starfox for that matter". Pepper looked sad and said "the council decided that it should be kept secret even from you but that's beside the point secrecy is longer viable we have learned some things about them, for example they are a fur less race called humans who are in appearance similar to simians." Fox was speechless. "No fur at all?" He asked finally. "Well some have headfur but not all of them" pepper said. "Anyways they belong to a militarized government called the Terran Empire spanning countless worlds". Sounds ominous" fox replied.

"We have learned from what they have willingly shared with us that they only encountered one other alien race who they furiously call The Parasite, an extragalactic collective of monstrous world consuming bugs."

"Good god" fox said they don't sound friendly at all" he said trying to lighten the mood. " I wouldn't joke about those things when around Terrans for they have consumed over a dozen worlds and killed billions" General Pepper scolded. "Fox looked suitably chastised for his remark. "Sorry general" it's not me you'll be answering to but to the Terrans". Fox once again looked surprised "what do you mean general?"

"The reason for this call is two fold, first to inform you that you will be escorting the Terran representatives ship from the designated meeting place back to Corneria, and secondly you will be stationed on his ship".

"What!" Fox yelled "why are we going to be put on his ship!" Pepper was calm as he spoke "we have after, agreeing to a meeting established that we will need to prepare for the arrival of the Parasite the Terrans actually found us when observing a hive fleet and gave us the warning when they spotted it nearing our system and are willing to lend us aid in the hopes of establishing an alliance, they seemed desperate and from what we've gathered almost all of their assets are used holding back the tide of monsters"

"Wha-Wha-what those bugs are heading here!" Fox stuttered.

"Yes and we will need to be prepared which is why I am sending my best to be trained by this representative named Varrus, he will teach you how to fight and is on loan to the Cornerian Defense Force (CDF) for the duration of this war if it is to happen"

"Phhht what is one guy gonna do to help" Fox scoffed. "That one guy as you called him" Pepper said "is a special forces commando augmented specifically to kill these bugs and will be a valuable asset to our defense, from what they told me he is their most valuable weapon against these monsters and they gave him to us so that we will have a fighting chance against these things, which is a huge show of faith that they are willing to help us and form an alliance" Pepper fumed.

"Okay okay okay" fox said placatingly "I was just curious how he was going to help"

"He also owns a ship and has committed it to this war in order to help" Pepper said. "Alright alright I get it we need his help when do we leave"

"Wake up your crew, you leave immediately".


	3. Chapter 3

Just in case all y'all readers thought otherwise I don't own star fox the only thing I do own are my OCs

The Swarm War

Chapter 3

8:30

The Great Fox

Fox sat there after the mind blowing call he received from General Pepper and was pondering on how exactly he was going to explain this to his friends. He eventually decided to just get straight to the point. He opened up the ships intercom and said "Falco,Slippy,Peppy, and Krystal please report to the bridge for a mission briefing.

Then he got dressed and ready for the tough day ahead and left his room and headed towards the bridge. On the way he was formulating his plan when he bumped into a disgruntled avian. That avian was none other then Falco Lombardi Foxs oldest friend and most trusted member of his team. "What the hell was that for Fox" yelled Falco. Yep he sure was a great friend. "Sorry Falco" He apologized "I was preoccupied and wasn't paying attention"

"Yeah yeah don't let it happen again, seriously it's no wonder I'm the better pilot" Falco said. Fox looked at his blue and red feathered friend as they walked towards the bridge and scoffed "sure but who has the most kills" Fox smirked. "It's not about the kills it's about style, which you lack" retorted Falco. "Whatever helps you sleep at night Falco" Fox said sighing. Right as Fox finished speaking they arrived at the bridge. As they walked in Fox could see all his other friends, no not friends but family as they gathered and waited for him to start the briefing. Falco taking his place among his fellow companions. fox took a moment to look of the assembled group and couldn't help but feel contentment here was all of his friends together they had suffered hardships but they all ways pulled through in the end.

There was Falco arrogant and sometimes irritating and they often grated against each other, but there was no one else he rather have watching his back.

Then there was his old father figure Peppy Hare the old rabbit had been there for Fox when his father was betrayed by Pigma and killed. He was Foxes mentor and the reason Starfox was still a mercenary group so that Fox's fathers work and and his best friends memory would not fade with time. Peppy was tall for a rabbit yet still no more then 5'3 without those huge ears. He had grey fur and had the aura of an old yet experienced buck. He was sitting in one of the chairs wearing his coat and seemed to be leaning back and a faint snoring could be heard.

Slippy his old friend from school who was the teams mechanic and the one responsible for keeping the place running. The toad was the shortest of them all barley reaching 5ft flat. With green skin and a frail body it was clear he was no soldier and was perfectly comfortable working in the ships garage. He was currently wearing his mechanic jumpsuit. He seemed fidgety yet he always was so Fox left it alone.

ROB the robot was in the front monitoring the ships system he seemed to be part of the ship now Fox didn't know what to feel about ROB he didn't have emotions or at least didn't show them so Fox just let him be.

Finally there was Krystal the cerulean vixen he found on Sauria after saving the planet from one of andross's finale schemes. She was a beautiful women standing at 5'10 she was the tallest person on the team and the resident psychic. She had a lithe yet thin frame and was leaning on the wall near the back of the bridge wearing her Cerinian outfit under her flight suit. She once had a crush on fox but was disappointed to figure out he had a girlfriend already a certain Fara Phoenix. But she was quick to get over it and now they were like family.

"Alright guys" Fox said. Bear with me now I have some shocking news from General Pepper". They all perked up at that but of course Falco always had a snide remark. "What" he scoffed "He finally realized that I am the better pilot between us".

"Cut It out Falco, I sense that here is something big about to be announced" Krystal chimed in with her signature posh accent. "She's right guys" Fox said "A CDF patrol ship in the outer reaches stumbled across an alien race". The room instantly went silent and even peppy woke up from his nap. "What!" Exclaimed Slippy "y-yo-your serious" he stuttered suddenly becoming a nervous wreck. As Krystal attempted to calm him down Falco threw in his own two cents "well shit" he said "that is pretty shocking" It gets worse that was three months ago. "What!" Falco cried out outraged why didn't he tell us". Now Fox looked upset "the council deemed fit to keep it a secret".

That's when Peppy spoke up "who and what are these aliens" he said in his calm and collected voice. Fox replied "they call themselves the Terran Empire"

"Well Falco said "that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside" When suddenly Falco heard Slippy butt in "shut up man this is pretty serious, right Fox" Slippy said his gaze turning to him Fox nodded. Suddenly Krystal decided to speak up "why did General Pepper tell you now?" That got everyone's attention. "Well" Fox said nervously his right hand rubbing the back of his head. "There's a slight problem". That's when Falco replied "oh great what (slight) problem" He said finger quoting slight. Fox got serious "the Terrans talked about a extragalactic threat"

"Wait you mean as in not of this galaxy" Krystal said shocked. "Yes they have been waging a brutal war for the past fifteen years against what they call The Parasite" The room got even quieter as that particular bit of ominous news was relayed. Peppy ever the scholar asked "what are these Parasites". Everyone seemed to lean in expectantly when Fox said "that will be explained later by someone more qualified then me, the important thing is that this Terran empire has warned us that a hive fleet, which is a fleet of these monsters is heading towards the Lylat system". The room got so quiet you could hear a pin drop from a mile away. "What!"Slippy said in a raspy voice those things are heading here!"

Falco practically exploded "Fuck what do we do!" Even Krystal and Peppey the more level headed individuals seem to be panicking. Then Fox said "there is good news, in light of these dire events the Terran Empire in an act of friendship has offered aid even though almost their entire military is fighting these things off".

The group seed to calm down after that and got excited. So Falco asked "so how are they going to help"

"Well Fox said they are sending a combat instructor who specializes in fighting these things and his personal ship". Falco groaned "there sending only one measly ship and one guy wow I'm so thankful" he said sarcastically. All of a sudden Krystal smacked him upside the head "at least there sending something and not leaving us against these things with no information and help."

"Jeeze Krystal I was joking" said Falco rubbing the back of his head. That's when Fox said "there's more we've Been ordered by Pepper to stay on his ship while we train" That's when Falco really got upset "great now we have to leave the great fox what about ROB?"

"THIS UNIT DOES NOT REQUIRE MONITORING" ROB butted in out of the blue. "I guess that means he can take care of himself." Muttered Falco. Slippy added his own thoughts "he'll be fine" he said although secretly he worried about his robotic friend. "Either way fox said we have the coordinates plug them in we're going to be late. ROB activated the light speed engines and the ship disappeared in a flash of light.


	4. Chapter 4

The Swarm War

Chapter 4

In a blazing flash of light the Great fox arrived at the rendezvous point. "Well" Fox said "we're here"

"I thought you said we we're going to be late" replied Falco."I guess we happen to be early" Fox snapped back. "Great" Slippy said "now we ha-" when suddenly a ripple in space grabbed the teams attention it contorted until it burst into a huge vibrant portal. The team sat there awestruck by the spacial anomaly. When to there greater surprise a massive ship sailed through the rift visibly bristling with weapons. "Holy Fuck" Falco whispered "that is one big ship"

Fox gazed at the leviathan and noticed an emblem emblazoned on its gargantuan side. It grabbed his attention and he directed the rest of the crew to it. "Guys look at that". They saw a shield with crossed swords behind it and a snarling wolfs head masterfully designed on the front. Circling the image was a language they could not understand it said in bold letters.

"SEDULAM VIGILANTIUM EH TUERI INFIRMOS".

"What does that mean" Krystal whispered to herself. "Hey guys" Falco said "can't believe I forgot to ask but what do Terrans look like?" Fox looked over "they are also called humans and Pepper said they look somewhat like simians except they have almost no fur. "Wow" said Slippy they sound different."

"WE ARE RECEIVING A TRANSMISSION IT IS VISUAL DO I CONNECT?" Said ROB Startling all of them. "Yes Fox said "open connection". The hologram emitter flashed to life and what they saw confused them. "I thought the Terran was a guy and not a cornerian?" Said a puzzled Falco. Standing before them was a cornerian wolf girl with a feral look and blazing red eyes.

Wearing a foreign naval uniform. She suddenly spoke "you are correct mister Lombardi I am simply the ships artificial intelligence, designed to look like you to help in easing both factions into excepting the other." Slippy jumped at the chance to learn new things and asked "so you are like ROB?" She looked toward Slippy and replied "if you mean your robot then yes although I am a little more advanced then him."

"AMAZING" he shouted. Yet before he could go on a rant Falco cut in "how do you know my name?" He asked "I know all your names for you will be staying on this ship for a while, and it would be foolish not to."

Fox turned his vision back to the magnificent ship and asked "what is that?" She turned to him smiled and replied "that Mr. Fox Mcloud is the Terran Empire Über Dreadnought "VENGEANCE" constructed and designed by its captain."

"Do you mean this Varrus that Pepper told me about?" The team looked at Fox. "What?" Krystal almost smacked him "you never hold us the name of the man we're working with stupid!" He looked suddenly embarrassed "oh yeah uh...oops" Krystal was intrigued by this man but suddenly remembered something. "Oh how rude we forgot to ask what your name was ms...?"

"Lupa" she replied "the names Lupa"

She suddenly spoke up "if you wish I can open the auxiliary hanger bay your ship should fit into it, then you can meet the captain of this mighty vessel." Once again this picked up Slippy's interest "No way, you can put our ship in there?" Falco scoffed at him "that ship is huge of course it could." Then Fox rallied the troops "alright guys zip it up let's get ready to say hello to our host." A giant hanger bay opened on the bottom of the ship and ROB plotted a course and soon the great fox was swallowed into its depths.

While this was happening the man named Varrus was at the armory putting on the last pieces of his battle suit and equipped his weapons. Lupa appeared before him "is the armor really necessary?" Varrus gave her a look "I'm a Pretorian I always wear my armor" and with that left the armory and headed towards the auxiliary hanger his armored boots clanking as he went to welcome his new guests.

Fox assembled his team just outside just outside the airlock they entered from inside the massive hanger bay and he gazed around at all the exotic ships and items. "Well" Peppy said "what do we do now" Fox looked towards him and answered "I guess we wait." No less then 5 seconds later Falco said "I'm bored" and forced everyone to walk to the hangers exit. When they got there they we're not kept waiting

They heard a ominous thumping heading towards the door and proceeded to back up as a group. They heard a combination of buttons being pressed. Then the door in front of them slid open to reveal a towering figure. They all gasped in awe and a little bit in fear. Standing before them was a heavily armed and armored giant his armor black as space trimmed with the crimson color of fresh spilled blood with a nightmarishly black cape his armor looked like an ancient warrior from a bygone era. On his back could be seen a sword it seemed to be giving of a red glow, next to that was a bulky angular object that could only be a gun, on his waist we're two huge pistols as big as Fox's standing at 8ft he cut an intimidating figure, and then he spoke.

The door opened to reveal five strange beings to varrus's eyes before him stood a two foxes one orangey red and the other a deep blue both male and female respectively the blue vixen was covered with tribal tattoos these intrigued Varrus but he turned his gaze to the rest. He then saw a small toad like thing that seemed to be quivering. To the toads left stood an avian whose posture screamed arrogance and finally there seemed to be a age wizened hare looking quizzically at him. He gathered his thoughts and began to speak.

The figure before them spoke "hello" he said but his voice sounded more like a growl and somewhat made them flinch. "My name is Quintus Varrus but you may just call me by my last name, I have been commissioned by the CDF to train there units, and you on how to fight our greatest foe..." he paused for a second clearly upset "The Parasite" he spat out finally. I will also be conducting sanctioned missions for the CDF during your training which I will be doing alone my hope is to help you and your people repel this grave threat, any questions?"

They all looked to each other finally Krystal decided to ask "what is the parasite?" The man seemed lost in thought for a second before he replied "that question will be answered after I have set up your accommodations, follow me" he said in his low toned voice. Then he proceeded to turn around and exit the hanger.

Fox and the group stood there stunned "well" Falco said "I wasn't expecting that." Peppy then exclaimed "hurry, He's leaving us behind!" So then they scurried after him to catch up. He noticed this and deliberately slowed his pace. He lead them through many large open hallways till they finally arrived at a long row of doors. "These will be your rooms" he spoke "pick whichever you like the people these we're originally for are..." he seemed to get quiet "no longer with us." With that he turned around and strode away "when you are ready come meet me in this levels briefing room, if you need help feel free to ask Lupa." And just as fast as he appeared he was gone. They stood there for a full minute. "Well" Falco said...


	5. Chapter 5

The Swarm War

Chapter 5

"Well..." Falco said "that was interesting." Then he proceeded to walk into one of the rooms "I'll take this one."

"Alright guys grab your rooms and then put any thing from the great fox you wanna keep with you there." Fox said as he walked towards the first room which was next to Falco's.

The rest of the team took the rooms of their choice Krystal took the very last in the line of rooms, Slippy was next to Falco and Peppy chose the middle one.

Right before Fox went into his room he looked back towards his team "Hurry up and get settled in I'll see you guys at the briefing room."

While they all set up there new rooms Krystal couldn't help but wonder who these rooms were originally for and what happened to them. She made up her mind to ask the strange man as soon as she could.

Fox was the first one ready to go as he didn't want anything from the great fox except some clothes. So he left his new room and was about to head towards the meeting room when he remembered something important. "Where is the briefing room?" He wondered aloud and was startled by a feminine voice coming from all around him.

The place your going to is located down a set of corridors to your left." He spun around but couldn't pinpoint where it was originating from.

"Who are you?" He asked when he heard the voice once more.

"It's me Lupa the ships A.I remember." The voice said.

"Where's your hologram?"

"I can only manifest on holo projectors which are scattered around in key portions of the ship, unsurprisingly enough the corridors are not these places."

"Right" Fox said.

"Anyways head towards the corridors I have told you and you will arrive at the room within a few minutes."

So after he thanked her Fox begun the short walk to his destination upon his arrival he saw the room in question was fairly large and had a long rectangular table lined with chairs. It also appeared that there was a holo emitter built into said table and with that took a seat near the head and awaited Varrus and his team.

He didn't have to wait long as Varrus arrived only a minute after Fox had sat down. He was still in his armor and fox was beginning to suspect the man never took it off. He seemed surprised to see fox sitting down. Which could be told by the way his helmet tilted to the side a little upon spotting the orange vulpine. "You're here already?" Varrus asked quizzically.

"Yeah I didn't bring much to my room" he replied.

"Packing light eh, no need to bring unnecessary items, considering your ship is inboard?"

"Indeed"

"Alright then considering your here early why don't you tell me about yourself while we wait for your slower companions."

"What do you want to know?"

"For now just some relevant information like how long you've been a merc,training,experience, and things like that."

"Ok well I've been a mercenary since I graduated from the cornerian academy, after my father died when I was little and my mother who died earlier Peppy raised me, he was a close friend of my family and took me under his wing. I started starfox so that my fathers legacy could continue."

"A noble pursuit indeed, i can respect you choice although I dislike mercenaries myself as all the ones I've worked with have been untrustworthy." Varrus replied.

"Yeah, well I have been in business for a few years now and have done a number of high risk jobs and defeated the monster responsible for my fathers death."

"Ah yes Andross" Varrus said "I heard a lot things from Fleet Comm about that particular piece of work."

"Fleet Comm?" Fox asked

"Yes Fleet Comm or command they are the ruling military body for our navy, and the ones who assigned me this posting."

"Oh so basically like our Fleet HQ."

"Precisely"

And with that the other members if star fox arrived Slippy,Falco,Peppy, and finally Krystal. They then took seats around fox while Varrus stayed standing by the front of the table.

Varrus cleared his throat and began to speak in his rough voice "alright now that everyone's here we can begin this meeting, as you know I am from the Terran Empire and in a gesture of goodwill myself and my ship have been donated to the CDF until the threat of The Parasite has been eliminated in this system, any question?"

Peppy was the first to speak up "yes, I have been wondering what exactly are these things?"

"To truly understand you must first be told a story." This seemed to grab their attention. "Fifteen years ago there was a beautiful garden world on the outskirts of our empire it was called Arcadia." As he talked about the planet the team could hear his usually loud voice soften to take an almost melancholy tone. "That world was the crown jewel of all of our planets and one of the most desirable locations to live. It was home to billions of people all living happily on this grand world..." His voice got even softer "until one fateful day."

"What happened?" Krystal asked.

"They did" Varrus replied vehemently "The parasite, there was no warning they simply came from the black depths of space like a virulent plague upon the galaxy and swarmed toward that beautiful world...my home."

Needless to say the team was surprised to hear this. "That was your home they attacked?" Falco asked.

With that said Varrus's tone took a darker turn. "They didn't attack, they consumed, their vast and corpulent armada ravaged the meager defensive fleet and then covered the planet in a whirlwind of chitin, claw, and fang. I would not be here now if weren't for my father, my father" he said voice full of emotion "was a good honest man, a member of the Arcadian defense force and a corporal, my mother was a nurse."

"W-w-what happened to them?" Slippy asked.

"My mother never got out of the hospital, my father abandoned his friends as they were being slaughtered by the abominations, completely unprepared for such a brutal and overwhelming foe, and rushed me toward an evac transport. He died" Varrus chocked out. "Defending the transport as it took off I escaped, on the only transport to make it out of the atmosphere and watched my home-world burn from orbit. I was the only survivor, out of a planet of billions I was Five years old." He said in a hollow voice.

The room was quieter then a grave as the information soaked in. "My god" Krystal said.

"After that I was taken in to foster care but soon afterwards The Terran Intelligence Office kidnapped me."

"What you were kidnapped!" Fox cried outraged.

"Yes they took me and many other orphans, because by that time many more worlds had fallen under the relentless wave of monsters and more often then not kids were they only ones that could be saved. They threw us into a training facility called "hells gate" by the more religious kids. For ten years they trained us in both body and mind. In the beginning there was a thousand of us. The training was brutal and by the time it was complete there were only eight hundred of us left. The others had been killed or driven to suicide." His calm tone of voice took them by surprise.

"What the Fuck!" exclaimed Falco "how can you be so calm that shit is unbelievable!"

"Yeah" Fox barked backing him up "how could they do that."

Varrus growled "you don't understand we were losing! Half of the eastern portion of our empire was consumed and millions were sacrificed every day just to halt the swarm. My people did what was needed to survive, our morale was flagging, Humanity needed heroes... so we made them.

Peppy was confused "what do you mean made?"

"Myself and the rest of the surviving children, now teenagers were put into an augmentation program to make super soldiers. During which a further 50 percent of the remaining teens were either disfigured or killed by the dangerous process."

"Why" Slippy butted in.

"The process strengthens our bones increased our bodies regenerative qualities, enhanced our senses. and made our muscles stronger and denser. The side effect is that in some cases the process went wrong causing catastrophic damage to the subjects nervous system and bodies."

The almost clinical tone he used to describe the horrors he went through baffled them to no end. Krystal decided to peer into his mind to see his real emotions and was surprised to realize she could not penetrate his mental defenses. This stunned her she had never met and individual who's mind she could not read. So she was forced to ask him "what did you feel about that?"

He seemed confused "what do you mean feel?"

She was even more baffled "what did you think about what they did to you and your friends."

"They did what was vital to humanities continued survival, I can't blame them for that, and it gave me the ability to fight back against the things that had destroyed my life and exact my vengeance. In any case the survivors formed a order of warriors called the pretorians. Then they sent us into battle."

"Wait" fox said "if you were five when you were abducted and, trained for ten years... You were fifteen when they sent you into your first engagement!"

"Yes the war was going badly we could not afford to wait any longer."

"They sent kids!" Peppy said clearly upset

"Yes"

"Where are the rest of your friends" Krystal asked as she wondered why he was all alone.

"We're getting of topic" Varrus said suddenly "the point of this is that I am here to train you and later a select few on how to properly fight these bugs and how to teach others before these things get here." I have been told to plot a course back to Corneria which I will do after this meeting because your leaders wish to speak with me, you all are free to explore the ship today, training will begin tomorrow." Then Varrus turned on his heals spun around and strode out of the room.

They sat there in silence "Well that ended abruptly" Fox said curiously.

"It appears that he doesn't wish to talk about his friends." Krystal stated.

"Why not" Falco muttered.

Slippy chimed in "remember when he gave us the rooms he said something about them being for others but..."

" they were no longer with us" Krystal finished.

"What does that" mean Falco asked

Peppy and Fix looked knowingly at each other before Fox said "it means that their dead" That shut them up for a little while. Fox then got up and said "alright then guys let's explore the ship."


	6. Chapter 6

The Swarm War

Chapter 6

As the team made to leave the briefing room the holo projector in the middle if the table sprang to life. Lupa materialized and begun to speak. "If you guys so desire I can give you a tour of the ship."

Fox decided to answer for his team "sounds like a plan to me."

"Excellent since I can't project in the hallways you will just have to follow the directions to the locations you wish to go to, where would you like to go first."

Falco unsurprisingly replied "let's go check out the armory."

"Alright then please head this way" as the tour started they all walked into the hallway and went towards one of the many rail lifts. As they climbed into the lift fox had the urge to ask a question.

"So Lupa" he began "how long have you known Varrus?"

Her voice responded a few moments later "I have known Varrus since he was a trainee at Hells Gate, this was before I had a body. I was one of the stationed there to teach them about the history of warfare."

"So you have known him for a long time, tell me is he always so depressing to be around?" Fox asked thinking back to the rather sad briefing they all had just attended.

"No he was a surprisingly happy kid even after the events that took his home and family he was the guy that looked out for all the other trainees and took care of them."

The lift stopped at the designated floor and they all left and followed Lupa's directions toward the armory and continued their conversation.

"Sounds like a huge responsibility." Peppy said "having to take care of all those kids

"Yes, well he always was one to look after others, he started to change when they began doing there first combat missions, he was the leader of all the remaining members of the pretorians and was the one who assigned them missions."

"Sounds stressful" Falco said.

"Yes well it got worse as the years dragged on and the war kept escalating less and less of his men were returning from their missions until only a few remained. So he then put the remaining pretorians in his own squad to keep an eye on them. Sadly he could not protect all of them and eventually he was the last one left."

"That's terrible" Krystal said

"At least their sacrifices pushed the bugs back and gave humanity a fighting chance for the future."

"But at what cost" Fox said quietly to himself.

At that they arrived at the armory where Fox and Falco became mesmerized by the dazzling array of weapons and equipment.

"Holy crap" Fox said "this place is AWESOME"

"Damn right it is" Falco replied.

"Yes all of these things belong to Varrus as he is the last of the pretorians and all of their gear was put aboard this ship."

"You think he would be willing to let me barrow some" Falco said As he walked along the rows of weapons each more interesting then the last.

"Yeah" Fox said distractedly staring at a particularly elegant pistol.

"I am not sure you can ask him later" Lupa said "I'm sure he won't mind in fact I think he would be happy to see his friends weapons being used once more."

At this both Fox and Falco looked at each other and grinned "I think we could find a use for these" they said at the same time.

All of a sudden Slippy pipped in from halfway across the large room "what is this?" He asked gesturing to a huge door with a keypad and the symbol of Varru's order plastered on the front.

"That there is his personal armory where he stores his most cherished gear and equipment."

While Fox Slippy and Falco explored the armory Krystal and Peppy hung back near the door as they didn't have a particular interest in these kind of things. Noticing this Lupa turned to them and said "since this place isn't to your liking can I interest you in somewhere else?"

"Not to be a bother but maybe somewhere more... Quiet" Krystal said indicating how loud and obnoxious the three were being.

"Ah yes maybe the library will strike your fancy" Lupa said.

"Yes a Library would be splendid!" Peppy exclaimed.

"Very well then follow me" she said signaling them to head towards the exit.

As they went towards the library Varrus was in the bridge and was just plotting the course for their next jump when he received a urgent call from Fleet Comm and so he patched it through. "This is Varrus go ahead command."

"Pretor we have troubling news a scout fleet of the parasites are heading towards one our outer colonies and your ship is the closest that can respond in time." A officer said as he appeared on the holo table.

"You want me to go and help them?"

"Yes I also think you would be interested to hear which colony they are going to attack."

"Really?"

"Yes it's new Arcadia."

"Seriously?"

"I'm afraid so please Pretor the colony will fall if no help will arrive."

"Of course command ill plot the course right now."

"Thank you Command out" the officer said and he disappeared in a flash of light.

As Varrus plugged in the new destination he couldn't help but see the irony of which colony had been targeted. "I guess that name is cursed" he said to himself and activated the slip space drive.


	7. Chapter 7

The Swarm War

Chapter 7

Back with fox and the rest of his team who were with Lupa on the bridge it was just as Krystal was leaving that Slippy wondered "What is the Alpha protocol?" Fox was worried because Lupa looked very upset. When she answered he understood why.

"The alpha protocol" she began "is a protocol specific to the Pretorian guard that is to be enacted after a specific requirement has been fulfilled. In the event of establishing ties with a new race or faction. If the human emissary is killed in battle his assets are to be transferred to the group in question if he so desired."

"So he doesn't think that he will survive the siege?" Fox pondered to himself quietly.

"Yes the defense force most likely will be insufficient in rebuffing this splinter fleet." She softly spoke.

"Then why is he going!" Falco yelled obviously confused as to why he would go anyway.

"He goes because it is his duty." Fox said clearly understanding more then Falco.

"Fox is correct" Lupa acknowledged "his duty is to protect the weak above all else."

"Even if it is hopeless?" Slippy wondered.

"Especially when it's hopeless that is what one of tenants of being a Pretorian is. Always protecting the weak no matter the cost even if they lose, the empire will know they tried and that is all that can be asked of them."

Before they could continue down that morbid train of thought they were derailed when Lupa suddenly spoke out "Varrus wishes for us to rendezvous at the mess hall for lunch."

"I could go for a bite to eat" Peppy blurted out his statement supported by the sudden growl emitted by his stomach much to his chargin.

"Try to keep it in old man" Falco said humorously. The group laughed as they headed down to the mess hall for lunch. Yet fox couldn't stop thinking about what she said and was preoccupied the whole way there.

The first ones to arrive were Varrus and Krystal once she saw the inside of the hall she was awestruck it was a huge chamber obviously meant to house a full ships crew. It was as silent as a tomb and she found it unsettling. Varrus saw how uneasy she was and tried to ease her mind. "Hey Krystal how about we head to the kitchen and get ready for your friends."

She turned to look at him "that sounds like a good idea."

Glad that his attempt was successful they made their way to the kitchen and Varrus gave her the grand tour as he was finishing up the others arrived. "Alright now that everyone is here I would like to know if any of you guys would like to try some food from my home... Uh hello?" When they didn't answer immediately he realized they were all staring at him. Krystal upon seeing that there stares were making him uncomfortable barges in to the conversation.

"Guys!" She yelled. After that they seemed to have awoken from their trance and realized what they were doing and looked down guiltily.

"Sorry but we've never seen a human before" fox muttered embarrassedly his tail trailing the floor.

"It's all good man I forgot I was out of my armor and I doubt that will be the last time someone stares. So with that out of the way how about I make us some good old fashioned food from my home planet huh?"

Glad that the awkward moment was over they hurriedly agreed. so he lead them to one of the many tables and got them situated. "Ok sit tight and I'll be back when I'm done getting the grub ready."

"Grub?" Falco said confusedly. "Your people eat bugs?"

"No, no, no it's just a figure of speech. I won't be cooking up any insects no need to panic unless Slippy wants any."

Slippy looked up from his seat at the table "why would I want to eat bugs?"

"W-w-ell" Varrus stuttered "your a... You know a... You know what never mind I'll just go to the kitchen." With that Varrus hurried over to the kitchen door and vanished from sight. The team sat there trying to process his weird behavior.

Meanwhile in the kitchen Varrus was leaning his back against the door where he let out a sigh "that could have gone better." He then took a moment to observe his surroundings and walked towards the food storage area. He took a quick glance at the inventory and decided that since most of them were a predatory species that he would cook up some sort of meat. He landed his gaze upon some sirloin and thought that even though it wasn't necessarily a lunch meat that it would be perfect to use. So he grabbed it and looked for something to accompany it. "Some mashed potatoes would be great"he thought as he grabbed them and headed towards the portion of the kitchen dedicated to cooking. He then began to work on the dishes he was going to make.

While this was happening Fox and his friends were sitting at a table and discussing there next course of events. "So what are we going to do?" He asked his team.

That's when Lupa appeared next to their table to offer advice. "If you would like I can show you one of his older mission recordings.

Fox decided to take a moment to think it over. When Falco decided to answer for him "yeah let's see if he is all that he's cracked up to be." Fox scowled at Falco's rude remark.

Before he could chastise him Lupa interjected "very well then all of his missions have been cleared for view except for one it's classified. "Krystal was intrigued "Why was it classified?"

"The events that transpired are classified because the people of the empire do not need to worry about another danger."

Fox was curious "there is another threat to the Terran Empire?"

"Yes although the threat is officially dealt with the empire is unsure as to wether it won't come back."

"So why can't we see it" Falco grumbled clearly upset "we're not a part of the empire so it shouldn't matter if we watch it."

Lupa decided to explain a little bit more "the recording is also kind of personal for Varrus."

"How so?" Krystal wondered.

Meanwhile Varrus was finishing up when a thought occurred to him what if they can't eat this? So with that thought he left the kitchen and walked back into the mess and saw the group deep in a conversation. "Hey!" He called grabbing their attention "do you guys have feral animals on your planet?"

"Yeah" Fox replied

"Do you guys eat them?"

"Duh" Falco retorted

Fox looked to Falco "seriously are you always gonna be an ass?"

"It's who I am" Falco said stubbornly.

"It's okay Fox." Varrus said trying to diffuse the situation "he doesn't mean any real harm by it and it dosent bother me so don't worry about it. Anyways that's all I wanted to know." After that he made his way back to the kitchen not wanting to cause more problems.

"Captain" Lupa said "starfox has requested to view a video."

"Well then let them watch it" Varrus said distractedly on his way back to the kitchen

"But sir it's..."

"Don't worry about it just put it on."

""But..."

"Just put it on" he said already half way through the door.

Once he disappeared she turned to the crew "well I guess you guys get to watch it."

"Yaaaaay!" Slippy shouted "video!" With that being said Lupa called down a huge screen that was on a track that moved to their table.

"Well I'll be that's one heck of a screen" Peppy said in awe.

"That's the screen the crew used when they were gathered after missions in the mess and wanted to relax."

Varrus was in the kitchen and had just finished preparing the meal and went out to deliver it. He saw the screen set up as he started to set down the plates of food. "Alright Bon appetite" they looked at him confusedly.

"What?" Krystal said.

"Never mind" Varrus sighed "anyways unfortunately I need to plan for the siege in my command and strategy center aboard the ship and so I will take my meal up there. Feel free to watch the video though. I won't be back so when you guys are done you can do whatever you want within reason." With that he made his way out of the mess with his plate.

While he was leaving Lupa made one last attempt to warn him on what video they were going to watch. "Captain I really don't thi..."

"Don't worry Lupa just play the video it can't be that bad." The door closed behind his retreating figure. She looked back to the team imploringly "he doesn't know what video you guys want to watch are you sure you won't wanna watch a different one?"

Fox was starting to become interested in this video himself "put it on I'm curious as to what the big fuss is all about."

"Alright" Lupa said in resignation "I must warn you it is not for the faint of heart." With that being said she started the video.


	8. Chapter 8

The Swarm War

Chapter 7

While Varrus was planning the defense of New Arcadia Fox and his team were in the mess about to watch the classified video, Varrus's mission tape. During the time that Lupa was setting up the video the group took the time to see what Varrus had prepared for them. Once Fox took a bite he exclaimed "whoa this is amazing!" Seeing his reaction the rest of them dug in with gusto giving similar responses to his outburst. They all agreed to compliment his cooking skills next they saw him.

"The recording is ready to play." Lupa muttered sullenly. "I will only give one final warning what you see can not be unseen,shown or explained to anyone outside this room ." She said seriously.

"Alright Lupa we won't tell anyone." Fox said placatingly. Satisfied with his response she began the recording.

It started inside what could only be a gunships infantry hold. You could tell it was a big ship for it even had a holo table built into the floor. The viewpoint was from inside Varrus's helmet as you could faintly see the edges of his visor. What they found odd was that he was the only one in the room. When suddenly the table sprang to life reveling another smaller armored figure with a more ornate rank design on his chest. His armor was smaller and it appeared to be not as advanced. Varrus put his fist on his cuirass saluting the man who was apparently his commander. "General"

"At ease Varrus you are approaching your insertion point as you know we have lost contact with the base on Aquincium we have reason to believe that their most recent discovery is to blame. They found this" the commanders image dissolved and was replaced by what seemed to be a huge pillar which spiraled at the tip. With a closer look you could see runes engraved all around it.

"Within hours of discovering the obelisk we lost contact with the facility but not before we received a message in text." The text appeared in the screen and made the starfox teams blood run cold.

'They are hungry...they are coming...they are hungry...they are coming.'

"The message repeats for exactly 2,500 pages. We don't know what it means we speculate it might be referring to the parasite but we aren't sure. Since this may be a critical danger to our planes for Aquincium we need you to find out what the hell is going on. The emperor personally requested that this be your op." The General said reverently "this means you cannot fail"

"His wish is my command" Varrus replied. That being said the general saluted "good luck Varrus" and disappeared in a flash of light.

The pilot cut in "sir drop in 30"

"Varrus thanked the pilot and moved towards the ramp to disembark. Thirty seconds later the ships engines slowly cycled down and shut off the gunship had landed. The ramp lowered to reveal a empty hanger the power was off and he could only see with his NV visor mode (night-vision).

"Do you want me to wait sir" the pilot mumbled nervously unnerved by the desolate hanger.

"No take off something's not right here and I don't want to lose my ride." Varrus replied as he surveyed the eerie hanger.

"Thanks sir!" The pilot exclaimed gratefully. As soon as he finished talking the engines spun back to life and the gunship soared out of the hanger. Then the hanger does closed leaving it bathed in darkness. Varrus took one last look at his surroundings unslung his rifle and walked towards the hangers exit. Starfox could not help but feel a sense of foreboding as they watched him maneuver to the exit.

"That place is creepy" Fox said to his team.

"You got that right fox." Falco replies equally creeped out. Krystal watching Varrus could not help but feel worried for him even though she knew that this was all in the past. She was curios as to how long ago it was.

"When did this take place?" She wondered.

"This recording was from last month." Lupa answered.

"that's not too long ago!" Slippy exclaimed.

At this time Varrus had just reached the hangers exiting bulkhead when the team heard a skittering noise from behind him. The cam whirled around and he was looking down his gunsight scouring the area with his eyes to try and discover what made that noise.

"What the hell was that!" Falco exclaimed.

"I don't know man" fox said eye still glued to the screen.

There was nothing there so he wearily turned back around and opened the bulkhead with a six digit combination. "Must be hearing things" Varrus muttered. He took one last look before turning into the newly opened room. He glanced into the room before him and saw it was barren of any sign of life so he cautiously entered checking every where with his rifle. Seeing as the room was clear he took another look it was a large room that seemed to be for monitoring the traffic that flowed in and out of the hanger bay. The room was standard fair for the empire metal paneled with an industrial feel to it. He went to see if the computer on one of the many desks had any information on the flight manifest and to maybe find out what happened to this once boisterous base. Unfortunately it seemed that the whole base was on emergency power. "Of course it's never that easy." Varrus growled. With a sigh he turned back around to leave the room when he saw a strange sight out of the corner of his eye something moved and jumped into one of the many vents with a small ping on his motion tracker on the bottom left of his HUD.

"What the fuck!" He shouted bringing his rifle to bear but whatever he saw was long gone. His sentiment was echoed by Starfox.

"Holy shit what was that!" Everyone was surprised to see that Slippy was the one to say that. They looked towards him. "Sorry it was just surprising" he said ashamed that he would say something like that.

"It's alright slip" Fox said reassuringly it surprised all of us.

Back on the video Varrus seemed to be nervous as he glanced around his surroundings once more to make sure he was truly alone. "Lupa can you here me" he whispered. All he got was static it seemed that he could not contact her back on the ship they used to get here. "High comm can you read me over." The room was much more menacing when he realized he could not contact the outside. "Well fuck" he groaned "whatever that was its gone now. I need to find out what happened here." He muttered to himself. It seems that Varrus has a habit of talking to himself or maybe he was just doing it to calm his nerves.

He opened the next room to reveal a huge entrance hall he took one look and gasped. The room was a utter disaster it looked as if a hurricane was released into the room scattering furniture and cases every which way the most disturbing thing was all the blood. It coated everything the walls,floors,and all the objects in the room. "This is starting to look like the start of a horror movie." Varrus mumbled under his breath loud enough for them to hear.

"I agree with you buddy" Falco said.

Varrus hesitantly walked down the hall to the next door when he heard another noise behind him he twirled around once again looking for a target once again seeing nothing. "This shits getting old!" He roared into the empty room where there was no answer. He mutters sullenly to himself and opened the door the next door to proceed. When it opened a body fell on him much to his surprise "ahh shit!" He shouted jumping backwards it was the corpse of what appeared to be a guard it was clad in a white close fitting suit of armor but the visor was cracked and blood was leaking from a massive rent in the frontal section of his chest plate. "Poor bastard" Varrus said catching it before it could tumble to the ground and eased it onto the floor. He read the identification on the top right of his cuirass it read,

MANIUS LUCENTIS

CORPORAL 1ST CLASS

ID:5821677

"What happened to you I wonder?" He spoke aloud.

Surprisingly he got an answer when the "corpse" shot out a hand and grabbed on to Varrus's bracer "Get...out...you need to...get...out" he gurgled clearly one of his lungs had collapsed.

"What happens here soldier" Varrus said quickly trying to find out before the soldier passed away.

"The...obelisk...should never have...found...it" he gasped for the final time arm going limp releasing his hold on Varrus who sighed and gently laid him down on the floor and ripped of the soldiers ID and put it into a pouch on his armor.

"Rest in peace brother" he whispered. He looked back to the ominous doorway it was so dark it was almost as if there was a black wall concealing the inside of the hallway. "I really don't want to go in there but an orders an order I MUST find out what happened here." He gathered his courage and stepped into the darkness.

Meanwhile as Starfox was watching this most of them were stunned as even though they were mercenaries they had never seen someone die up close. It usually being from the comfort of their cockpit where they couldn't see the other pilot just a small explosion and a little debris. Krystal in particular was effected the most as she was still a little innocent as to the ways of the world. "well that puts life in perspective" Fox said although no one was listening to him as they were watching Varrus step into the darkness.

"From this point on it's going to get worse." Lupa said making sure they completely understood.

"It's ok Lupa we aren't kids you know." Falco scoffed "we can take it."

"The review officer told me something similar before he watched this, now he's in therapy." She said ominously.

Back on screen Varrus stepped into a long hallway and turned on his helmet lamp illuminating it. Only to see 3 eyes at the end of the hallway staring intently at him. "What...the...actual... Fuck" Varrus stuttered the eyes then seemed to fly at a rapid pace down the hallway towards him so he panicked and sent a burst of lead down the hallway basking it in an orange light for a brief amount of time where he could vaguely see a humanoid shape that just wasn't quite human. It squealed and disappeared as quickly as it was seen back down the hallway. "JESUS WHAT THE SHIT!" Varrus shouted backpedalling out of the hallway and back into the previous room. He tripped over the corpse of the soldier and landed on his ass and scrambled backwards away from the door keeping his gun trained on it. He was hyperventilating as he quickly leaped up and smashed the button and closed the door. Once he was sure the door was closed he stumbled towards one of the tables in front of the door in the room and sat down on one of the chairs placing his rifle on the table. It creaked in protest from his significant weight but he paid in no mind as he was preoccupied with trying to figure out what the hell that thing was.

Similarly Starfox was also flipping out. "Damn what was that!" Fox said climbing up from the floor where he fell down in surprise. The other members of his team had also had too retake there hastily vacated seats.

"Shit that was scary" Falco said pointing out the obvious as he sat back down.

Peppy was fixing his glasses as they had become loose in his haste to back away from the screen. "Well I'll say I've never seen something like that before." He stated trying to project an air of calm.

Slippy seemed to have fainted and Falco woke him up unkindly by dumping a cup of water on his head. He spluttered "what was that for Falco!"

"You fainted you toadstool"

"Oh" Slippy mumbled.

Krystal was clutching her tail which was wrapped around herself as of trying to feebly ward off an unseen threat. Her fur was bristled as if she was hit by a jolt of electricity and was breathing heavily.

Fox noticed her and was worried "Hey Krys are you ok?"

"Yes of course I was just startled that's all" she said to the worried fox.

Assured that she was okay he turned to Lupa her being the only who hadn't freaked out. "What was that?"

She looked at him "the answers you seek will be explained just watch."

Unsatisfied with her response but seeing as she was not going explain they reluctantly turned there gaze back to the video.

Varrus was still sitting at the table and seemed to be a little bit calmer. "Lupa come in anyone can you read me over." He waited for a response even though he probably knew that no one will hear him. "Please can anyone here me I need back up something is wrong here please come in." He whispered when no one responded he sighed in resignation. He brought his hands to the seal on his helmet and with a hiss of released air pulled it of his head and laid it on the table. It was facing him so they could see his head it looks nothing like the last time they saw it his normally kind eyes were bloodshot and he was sweating profusely. He was rubbing his hair with his hands and trying to relax. They all felt sorry for him as they saw his disheveled state. He leaned back in his chair with a another sigh and put his hands over his eyes.

What he didn't know was that the door behind him opened. A shadow creeped its way towards him but he seemed unaware. By this time Fox and his friends were panicking as they could see the shadow make its way toward the unaware human. Even though he couldn't hear them they felt like shouting to warn him.

When suddenly Varrus's helmet started beeping his hands left his eyes which shot open and he vaulted over the table away from the door leaving his helmet behind he knocked it over and it rolled of the table facing his new position. As he did a combat roll he drew his blaster pointed it at the shadowy figure and started to send lasers down range. The figure let out a inhuman roar and rushed towards the surprised Pretorian smashing into him and flinging him towards the wall. He smashed into the wall with a bang denting it as he slid down it almost unconscious from the power the bash had contained. Barely coherent he pulled his second blaster and fired both at the monstrous thing. It bellowed at him a second time before sprinting back into the door it had emerged from. He got up woozily and tried to make his way towards his rifle and helmet before collapsing with a "fuck" where he fell into unconsciousness.

This left the viewers speechless as they tried to process the battle that only lasted a minute. The camera had a mission timer and it read as only have being an hour and forty five minutes since he landed. "He was out for a long time" Lupa said. She fast forwarded for ten minutes when he started to regain consciousness.

"He's not going to get a break is he?" Slippy wondered out loud.

"I'm afraid not" Lupa replied. They turned there attention to him when he started to speak again.

"Did anyone catch the license plate of the truck that hit me" he groaned as he sat up. "Oh right I'm all alone." He said sadly. "Damn" he looked around before laying eyes on his helmet.

They saw a trickle of blood coming down from his forehead where they could see a deep gash from his visit with the wall. "That looks painful" Fox said holding a paw to his own forehead.

"Well it appears whatever they are they can open unlocked doors" he grumbled to himself and then laughed a little to crazily unsettling the group watching. He reached for his helmet and put it back on with a hiss as it sealed. "Note to self never take off helmet" he muttered. He grabbed his rifle and turned to the door the thing came from. "I really don't want to go in there" he said as he reluctantly made his way through the door and cautiously walked down the hallway rifle raised and looking for threats.

He got to the end of the hallway without a problem and opened the door. Making sure the coast was clear he went to the directions on the wall found out where the communications room was and made his way to it. He walked for a solid 15 minutes and was deeply disturbed. "Where are the bodies? There should be more then one." He finally arrived at the comm room and tried to establish contact with the outside world. "Hello this is pretor Varrus calling in from the firebase on Aquincium. Lupa do you read over?" All he got was static so in a fit of rage he brought his fist up and punched a hole through the thick metal wall as he let out a roar " SON OF A BITCH!" With a sigh he exited the room and went in search of another wall map.

By this time Starfox was completely absorbed into his plight having forgot they were even eating. They watched and waited to see what he would so now.

"Ok the combat operations center is here so I need to take this hallway that way and then go down that elevator and make a left alright." He muttered to himself he turned away from the map and into the correct hallway. He made it to the COC without incident and walked into the room. Having learned from his previous mistake he closed and locked all the doors then made his way to the center console. "Alright" first of I need to turn on the power." He flipped a switch and all the consoles started to boot up. "finally!" He exclaimed "things are going my way!" Once all the systems had been restored he looked over to a system labeled "base life sign detector. "Let's see who's left" he said turning it on. The screen displayed some mind shattering news.

ONE LIFE SIGN DETECTED

LOCATION COC

"What?"


	9. Chapter 9

The Ambassador

Chapter 9

Varrus was mesmerized by the screen "How is that possible?" He grumbled to himself. "There are supposed to be over a thousand people here they can't possibly all be dead." He them remembered something unsettling "if I'm the only thing alive then what the hell was that thing that attacked me?" Pondering this new revelation he decided to do a little research on what happened here.

He got up from his chair and made his way towards the center console again and brought up the map function. He then puzzled out the rout to the closest information terminal which was only a few floors deeper into the base. "Once more in to the breach." He said his voice reverberating of the metal walls. Half way to the exit the shutters on all the doors and vents smashed down with a BANG and the light in the room started to emit the orange hazard Hue.

WARNING BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION DETECTED BEGINNING QUARANTINE PROCEDURES.

A harsh electronic male voice intoned.

LOCK DOWN WILL BE LIFTED ONCE CONTAMINATE IS ELIMINATED.

"What's going on?" Krystal asked Lupa.

"This is where it starts to get serious" she replied.

"Oh so your saying all the shit that happened early was the easy stuff." Falco sarcastically butted in.

"Indeed you are correct Falco" she said seriously "Now pay attention it is about to get very violent." She said forebodingly. Back on the tape Varrus was looking around confused and upset.

"What now!" He shouted angrily. "Seriously every ti..."

and was suddenly interrupted when one of the vents was dented outwards when a obviously heavy object slammed into it. "Ooh...shit" he mumbled turning his attention to the source of the disturbance. After two more consecutive hits the vent exploded in a shower of shrapnel as something crashed into the metal grating of the floor. Varrus finally got a good look at his enemy for the first time. He was terrified his heart beat monitor skyrocketed upon the unveiling of this new danger. The creature approximately five and a half feet tall was a twisted corrupt vision of the human form. Jutting from both shoulders were two of what could only be described as some sort of bladed limbs almost like spider legs. It's appearance only more terribly enhanced by the flashing hazard lights that basked it in ominous light.

"What in gods name is that!" Peppy exclaimed the rest of the team looked on in horror as it began to move.

Meanwhile on the recording Varrus took this in all in the span of a few heartbeats. By that time it had already dragged its diseased carcass off the floor bellowed at him and charged he used his genetically modified reflexes and barely managed to dodge it's reckless attack spinning to face it he unloaded his rifle in to its back. It fell to the floor with an inhuman shriek and started twitching believing the foe defeated he turned his back to it and looked for another threat.

Seconds later his carelessness was rewarded with a sharp pain in his leg. It seemed that the monster wasn't down for the count as it had dragged its mangled body to him and brought one of its bladed limbs down and into his protected calf smashing right through the heavily armored leg and deep into his muscle. He turned around roaring in rage and brought his other legs heel about and smashed into the abomination so hard it dented the floor plating. Falling to one knee it seemed that he would get no respite as another vent burst releasing another one of these monstrosities. Without hesitation he reloaded his rifle and sent another barrage of lead down and into its chest bringing it down. He took a moment to see if it was dead and was horrified to discover that it as still alive and crawling steadily towards him. So he drew his sword and limped over and hacked it to pieces. Satisfied it was finally down for the count he sheathed his sword reloaded his rifle and scanned the room for another threat. He was not disappointed as another brace of vents buckled and finally exploded unable to prevent the onslaught of creatures from spilling into the room.

Varrus began to methodically cut them down firing controlled bursts into there extremities bring them down in a pile of flailing limbs. Without remorse he primed a incendiary grenade off his bandolier and tossed into the dogpile of the damned causing it to burst into a raging inferno completely scouring them from the face of existence. The fires slowly petered out shrouding the room once more in darkness and flashing orange lights.

At the end of that firefight the starfox crew were unsure as how to respond to what they just had witnessed. They had never before seen such atrocious creatures these were the stuff of nightmares easily the most terrifying things they had ever laid eyes on. "What...were those?" Slippy whispered clearly unnerved.

He went unanswered as they watched Varrus who was once more searching for threats. Moments later the hazard lights turned off and regular lighting was restored and the lockdown lifted satisfied the assault was over he limped towards the nearest chair to tend to his injury. With a groan he eased himself on to the steel backed chair and brought his left hand to his affected limb. He hissed in pain at the sight his adrenaline having faded and feeling returning to his body.

The sight sickened the viewers as his leg was severely wounded. His bone exposed to the light it was never meant to see. Blood was periodically gushing from his calf and staining the floor.

With a pain filled moan he reached into one of his many pouches and grabbed a hypo spray to disinfect. With a burst of chemicals and a hiss of pain that task was complete and so he grabbed a tube with a nozzle from the same container as the hypo spray. He violently jammed it into the visible wound and pressed on the plunger which began to fill the wound with a thick white foam. He exhaled in relief and put away the medical supplies. He reached into the adjacent pouch and pulled out a armor patch. (A bendable piece of metal that can form to any hole in your armor.) Placing it on the rent in his armor he took a portable welding torch from his apparently limitless pouch of wonders and sealed the breach in his armor.

Falco was surprisingly interested in the equipment he was seeing and was curious. "What is all that stuff?"

Lupa was standing next to him "that is the survival pack every one of the pretorians carried them on every mission the went on. It was meant to keep them operation capable for extended periods of time." She explained. The know enlightened avian brought his attention back to what he was watching.

He looked around and gathered up his energy. Satisfied that his wounds were tended to Varrus made his way out of the charnel house of a COC. He now focused his efforts on locating the terminal that would hopefully provide a answer to the insanity of the past few hours. Now even more cautious he slowly made his way to his new destination eyeing all of the vents and doors mistrustfully. He took the time to think while he was walking like how in the hell was he going to get out of here? Or how was he to stop these things from spreading or what the hell they even were? Deciding that it was pointless to question without more information he focused once more on the path ahead tightening his hold on his weapon.

After a few minutes he discovered a barricaded room suspicious of an ambush he warily headed towards it. Standing outside he saw that the sign next to the door read mess hall. He was curious to see why it was barricaded maybe the scan was wrong and there were other people alive. With hope swelling in him he moved the barricade with extreme effort and motioned to open the door.

He pressed the button next to the door and it slid open slowly with a screech of abused metal. He was horrified at what was unveiled. Before him was a room of horrors. There must have been a hundred of the creatures feasting on a squad of dead soldiers in the middle of the hall and roaming about.

Fox and co where speechless the things were shredding into the pile of warriors with abandon blood was leaking out of the pile. To make matters worse there was an even bigger pile farther into the room there must have been made up of a quarter of the base and there were even more of the fiends there as well. The damaged door was almost his undoing. The noise garnered the attention of the monsters that were up to this point oblivious to his arrival. In some disturbing form of synchronization they all turned to him in unison. The sight chilled his blood he hastily closed the door and reapplied the barricade. "That room was occupied" he muttered to himself.

Despite the situation his comment made the viewers laugh softly to themselves. "Well at least he has a sense of humor" Falco said

Lupa was "sitting" down next to Fox and Krystal "That is the last joke you will hear for a long time."

At that time Varrus was backing up from the door when a ominous SMASH was heard and the barricade shifted slightly. Needing no more persuasion he hastily beat a retreat from the door and back tracked too his path towards the information terminal. Praying that the barrier would hold he resumed his journey and walked for a little while before coming upon an lift. He went inside and pushed the button that would take him to his destination. Unfortunately there was just enough power for the terrible elevator music to play. Without hesitation he drew one of his blasters and shot out the speakers without a word.

A minute later he arrived at his destination and exited the lift to be welcomed by a gruesome sight. A corpse was attached to the wall adjacent to the elevator door by a three foot barb. It was a soldier his armor was painted gold and blue it was heavily damaged and gouged on several places. Varrus solemnly made his way to it and retrieved its ID.

MERIC LANIUS

MASTER SERGEANT

ID:5228794

It seemed that he was heading towards the elevator when he was impaled. "You almost made it brother" Varrus said sadly "I will avenge you" he spoke to the corpse his voice as lethal as poison. Rage burning in he heart he continued with a fire in his step. He traveled down countless bloody hallways eyes almost straining out of their sockets looking for hidden danger.

Eventually he spied the terminal and made his way to it. He logged in to the database and pulled up the last days logs. It talked about the discovery of the obelisk and how shortly after people all over the base reported hallucinations. The next entry talked about the disappearance of the bodies in the morgue . At this point Varrus was pretty sure these were some type of undead. The scientists discovered that the obelisk emitted some sort of signal that was designed to reanimate the dead somehow. By that point it was too late and the undead started to attack. The entries all went down hill from there and soon become indecipherable as the writer was apparently driven insane by the signal the artifact exuded. Finally figuring out what in the hell was going on he decided on his next course of had to destroy the obelisk and hopefully that would put an end to this undead plague.

"Really zombies?" Falco said unbelievingly "you've got to be joking."

"I'm afraid it's deadly serious those things are at least the reanimated dead." Lupa explained.

"I think she's right Falco" fox said "there is no other explanation."

While they were talking Krystal was watching Varrus as he read up on the situation. She couldn't believe how he could keep going even after fighting though all these horrors. She was certain that she would not have been strong enough to survive the ordeal he was in. He was so brave she thought and so strong.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Varrus suddenly grunted in pain and fell to his knees. It was so sudden it caught Starfox completely by surprise. They watched horrified as he dropped his rifle and brought his hands to his chest he grabbed feebly at a huge barb that impaled him from his back and out threw his chest plate. He coughed up blood all over his HUD and the heart beat monitor was howling erratically.

They watched silently as he struggled with the object imbedded in his chest. "Oh my god!" Krystal chocked out barely able to speak as her heart had felt like it stopped. She could not find the words to express how she felt at that moment. She knew he was still alive but she could not "believe" he was. That wound seemed fatal for all intents and purposes.

"Holy fuck!" Fox exclaimed He was stunned as it had happens so fast. He couldn't believe how this guy was still alive. "What the hell happened!"

His question was answered when from out of the shadows a new version of the "undead" revealed itself. It was half of a human body. Just the upper torso, and sticking out of its waist was some form of organic spike launcher. It growled at its prey and moved closed to end him. Varrus weakly scrabbled at the grip of his blaster "Fury" that was belted to his waist. He finally got purchase and whipped it out as the creature lunged at him. His blaster spat out an ionized laser straight into it's approaching face sending it reeling backwards. Without hesitation he kept blasting it until his pistol overloaded. The creatures body was partially disintegrated satisfied in its annihilation he put away his blaster and picked up his rifle.

Coughing up more blood he got to his feet vision obscured by the blood on his visor. He looked everywhere for a place to hide in case more of those things showed up. He stumbled into a room that seemed to be crew quarters and sealed and locked the door his vision going blurry. He teetered around before collapsing in a pile of heavy armor on to the small bed in the room. He wrapped both hands around the invading spear and pulled it out with a grunt. It exited his body with a shower of ruby red blood. The droplets spraying all over the walls and floor. He grabbed weakly for his medical pouch and pulled out the spray and foam tube. Using them on both holes in his body he dropped them onto the floor carelessly and pulled out two more armor patches he managed to attach the frontal patch and fumbles around for a minute before applying the back patch. Scratching at the seal of his helmet as soon as it was broken he ripped it of and dropped it to the floor where it rolled to a stop next to the medical supplies. Luckily for Starfox it was still in position to see him. They watched as he collapsed in exhaustion on top of the bed. He was breathing shallowly and erratically. Soon he drifted off into troubled sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The Swarm War

Chapter 10

Starfox watched as he tossed and turned on the cot. "Wow he looks like shit" Falco said.

"So would you if you've been through what he has!" Krystal piped in defending the disheveled human.

"Okay okay I didn't mean anything by it I was just saying he looks beat up that's all." Falco muttered "I wasn't trying to be mean."

"I know it just I'm a little on edge I never thought things like these could be real. The idea that they really are is frightening." She said holding her tail close to her chest.

Meanwhile fox was talking with Lupa. "So are these thing still a threat?" He asked.

"Since this mission there have been no more sightings of these monsters or any more of these obelisks." She expressed to him. "Furthermore if our alliance works out we will expand our efforts in aiding Corneria against threats such as these. Now then lets focus on the video until it has concluded. All your questions can be answered at the end.

"Sounds good to me, wait what's that noise?"

Varrus's troubled sleep only lasted for half an hour before he was rudely awakened by the sound of metal buckling. He shot out of his interrupted slumber and turned his gaze towards the door. With a tired moan he rolled of the cot and picked up his helmet and resealed it. He reached down and picked up his abandoned supplies repacking them in the pouches. The door started to cave in as he picked up his discarded rifle "these things won't leave me alone." He muttered exhaustedly.

He prepared himself for the attack and evaluated his weapons. Finding that they were up to par he trained his rifle on the door and waited.

The door finally collapsed revealing there shadowy forms. Without hesitation he unloaded his rifle into the doorway scything down the first few monsters in a dazzling flash of light. He upon realizing they were going to rush him slung his rifle and drew his nemesis sword and with a shout leaped to engage them.

The first abomination was wearing the tattered uniform of an engineer. As it swung it's bladed appendages at him Varrus leaned backwards and the limbs hurtled towards him barely out of range. With a quick motion he brought his sword up and severed the pesky things from its body. Using the same motion he spun the blade around and down into its cranial vault separating it from its body in a magnificent shower of blood. It fell nervelessly to the floor with a wet thud. Without skipping a beat Varrus moved to engage the next one this time covered in armor.

Dressed up in the remnants of a soldiers gear it would be a little harder to eliminate. He drew "Faith" one of his blasters and kneecapped the monster. It took quite a few hits to finally pierce the exceptional armor. During its collapse he raised his blade and hammered down bisecting the unlucky corpse and then kicked it out of the room.

The final one of the set was so corroded he was not sure what it used to be. Varrus in an effort to end this quickly rotated his body bringing the weapon into its side slicing it in half. Unbelievably it's lower half sprouted three tendrils that began to attack him. He deflected the first two but the last one hit him in the chest only mildly scratching the paint. With a scoff Varrus booted it into a wall driving his sword through it and finally ending it's twisted existence.

He checked his motion tracker to confirm that he was indeed finished with the fight. Satisfied he was well and truly alone he relaxed his guard.

Now that the danger had passed he sat back down on the cot and tended to his still wounded chest. He was breathing shallowly clearly that short fight had exasperated his injuries. He injected a pain reliever into his system through the armor interface on his chest. Satisfied that all that could be done was done he made to leave the room. Not before checking the soldiers remains for an ID that sadly was missing from the chest plate. Since there was nothing else he could do he exited the room.

Looking around he was thankful that the corridor was empty. His motion tracker was silent bolstering the fact that he was truly alone in the hallway. Content that there really was nothing out there he made his way to his destination.

Suddenly the door down the hall exploded revealing a group of monsters supported by the ill discovered new variant. "SON OF A BITCH SERIOUSLY?!" He yelled quickly drawing his rifle and emptying his clip in there direction. "GOD DAMN PLACE WAS EMPTY THATS CHEATING!" Prioritizing the the more dangerous ranged adversaries he swiftly targeted and obliterated them in a hail of gunfire. By that time the others were already halfway to his location. He pulled the trigger and "CLICK" his clip was dry.

Panicking he backpedaled and drew his two blasters and started to shoot there legs in an effort to slow them down. The first few tumbled to the floor in a struggling mass of bladed appendages. The others roared at him as they drew nearer. Holstering the pistols he unsheathed the sword from his back and closed the distance.

Shoulder checking the first one to the wall it slammed into it with a sickening crunch. Using his momentum he spin kicked another into its compatriots buying him time to press his advantage. He hacked the closest one in half with a spray of gore as it collapsed. He closed his left gauntlet making a fist and brought it raging down upon the next one smashing it to the floor with his immense strength shattering its bones as if they were made of glass.

Soon after the vent next to him shattered birthing the forms of two more monsters. Not giving them time to attack he ran into them pining them to the wall and pulled another grenade. This time it was a fragmentation variant and rammed it into the stomach of the one on he left. After leaving it embedded in its chest he grabbed both of them and smashed them together and hurled them away. As he turned to the last one the two he tossed exploded in a blistering flash of heat metal and body parts.

The last one was still getting up from the floor when he flashed his blade in five quick movements decapitating it and removing its limbs.

He then brought his focus to the group of handicapped creatures. The struggling mass of enemies were eliminated just as the first one was, in a blistering blaze of incendiary might. The fight complete he gathered himself and his equipment. "Goddamn things are relentless." He muttered sullenly.

Continuing his trip he went back to the lift sidestepping the little massacre and selected the floor for research and development. The ride was silent thanks to the untimely demise of the speaker system. Leaving the lift he was happy to see no bloodthirsty corpses out to kill him.

He went to yet another terminal and searched for the artifacts specific location. After a lengthy and frustrating search the terminal directed him to hanger bay C. Groaning Varrus started smacking his head on the screen "damn things not here. Of course it would be back near where I started" he groaned.

With a wasted trip he turned around and headed back to the lift. Once inside he pressed the button that would take him to the next floor. It was a little farther and so would take longer to arrive. Utilizing the extra few minutes he did a once over of his gear. His ammo was still good and his sword was only slightly nicked nothing a little sharpening couldn't handle. His twin blaster pistols were still in peak condition hopefully they would stay that way.

His inventorying was interrupted when the elevator suddenly rocked up and down. Varrus stumbled confusedly and fell on to the wall.

That saved his life as the vent above him was breached and one of the things flew out exactly were he was just standing. With a almost bored groan he simply pummeled it into a pile of broken bones and tenderized meat. The elevator arrived at its destination a moment later he exited leaving the pitiful mound that used to be a monster and rushed to the hanger. "Luckily my way out and target are in the same room" he said excitedly. With reckless enthusiasm he ran to the door. "Alright destroy anything in the way to the artifact. Blow up said artifact and call for extraction piece of cake." He muttered to himself as he activated the door.

The door opened.

...

...

...

"Fuck"


	11. Chapter 11

The Swarm War

Chapter 11

"Fuck"

He found the obelisk.

It was at the rear portion of the hanger bay. A huge distance away from him. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the EIGHTY or so monsters in between him and his objective.

"This...is gonna suck" Varrus said voice monotone. Taking advantage of the fact they had not noticed him yet he came up with an idea. Shuffling around in his pouches he managed to find a large supply of grenades of both types. Using a strip of det-cord he wrapped them up in a huge bundle of explosive potential. To top it all of he squeezed in a special little device. It was a B-Series High Explosive Area Denial Charge. (Its function was to completely scorch a large portion of land eliminating everything in range from infantry to armored vehicles.) Happy that he did all he could he measured the distance to his target. The hoard of monsters were a fair distance away approximately 300 meters away from his current position.

As he armed the device he couldn't help but feel that this was a very bad idea. Ignoring the sense of foreboding he prepared for a titanic toss and lobbed the makeshift explosive all the way into the heart of the swarm. The shambling group of monsters watched it roll around among them almost curiously. Ignorant of the threat among them they continued looking at it as it came to rest at the foot of a particularly unlucky specimen. It looked quizzically down at the strange object and tried to casually brush it away. The object detonated.

The surrounding fifty meters lit up in a awe inspiring display of pyrotechnics. The smoke cleared to reveal that a full thirty of the abomination had been vaporized and another fifteen disabled with a huge crater at the epicenter. The surviving creatures turned to look at him. They stared at each other until finally the nearest one bellowed its challenge and charged. Staring at a stampede of forty five intact monsters suddenly he was enlightened as to why it was a bad plan.

"Oh...yeah the might be a little upset." He said voice wavering almost imperceptibly.

Realizing he needed to act fast he in a feat of strength he one handed his rifle and pulled out one of the pistols. Unloading both weapons at the enraged mob he did his best to immobilize as many as possible. By the time they got close enough for his blade he crippled another dozen. Still leaving thirty three disgruntled corpses.

In desperation he slung his rifle and pulled out his nemesis blade it glowed a vibrant red as he activated its power field for the first time since arriving here. With blade and pistol drawn he moved to engage. In a whirlwind of devastation he collided into the mass of inhuman beasts with a resounding THUD. The entire first row of beasts were shredded into bits as his masterful blade skills quickly cut them down. Pressing his advantage he plowed deeper in the hoard using his other hand holding the blaster to point blank any that got uncomfortably close. The big group reeled as he systematically decimated them. Strangle there numbers didn't seem to be slowing down. Worried he tried to find an explanation. His answer made his blood run cold.

The damn things were pouring in like a sieve from the door he entered from. Most likely drawn to all the noise coming from the hanger. Quickly coming to the conclusion they would soon overwhelm him he realized he needed to separate from the ones currently attacking him. He put away his weapons and with a Herculean effort he managed to use one of his armors special abilities. Gathering his strength and using his armor to amplifying his already immense power he gathered his gauntlets together making a massive fist and brought them hurtling down to the floor. They smashed into the floor sending out a shockwave denting the metal floor and blasting away the group encircling him

Capitalizing on his new advantage he ran to the obelisk. As he drew near he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. Another one of those barbs had pierced him. Now stumbling towards his target he fell down as he reached it. The force of his fall removing the object embedded in his leg as it was pushed out when he hit the ground with a grunt of pain. Panicking he clawed at the floor trying to gain ground desperately so that they didn't catch up and tear him apart. He scrabbled to the obelisk and put his back to it ready for a last stand.

Yet for some reason all the monsters just stared at him from about twenty yards away just growling at him. There must have a few hundred eyeing him up. Confused as to why he wasn't dead yet he got up and looked around. Trying to find out what was keeping them away. Finally he inspected the artifact. The runes on it glowed a malevolent dark red it must have stood twenty feet tall and probably weighed a good four tons. "I think this repels them" he said to himself.

Using this respite he patched his wound that had become one of many since the start of this disastrous operation. Figuring that he still needed to finish his mission wether he lived or not he collected all the explosives he carried and jury rigged a high explosive IED. In a even greater stroke of pyromanic genius he strapped it to the artifact using all the det-cord he had on him. Satisfied with his overkill he primed it to go off in twenty minutes after installing a dead mans switch. Then he sat down and waited for the end.

He pondered as he sat there waiting for his imminent demise as to wether or not they would send anyone else to find out what happens here. Luckily for them if they did all these goddamn monsters would be gone. Thanks to the upcoming destruction of the thing that kept them going.

As the timer counted down to his death his melancholy musing was interrupted by an angelic noise. His comm system was buzzing erratically and a familiar voice came in.

"Varrus respond where the hell are you!"

"Hey...Lupa" he groaned tiredly "I've been trying to get a hold of you for the longest time."

"Varrus...are you alright?"

"No not really but boy do I have a story for you." He said while looking at the timer that was still steadily ticking. "But I'm afraid I won't be able to tell you."

"Why?" She said worriedly

"Well...to make a long story short I planted a bomb.

"WHAT!"

"There were these monsters and everyone is dead and now I'm stuck surrounded by said monsters and the bomb I planted is right next to me." He rambled.

"And finally I have about seventeen minutes before it goes off."

She ignored all the stuff about monsters and focused on trying to save his life. "Okay where are you?"

"Uh hanger bay C why?"

"Great I'll get the pilot to pick you up !"

"Well..." He said turning his attention to the gathering of monsters "I don't think that's going to work."

"Why the hell not!"

"You see" he said " those monsters I was taking about well it seems like they are all here."

"Ok how many?"

"I don't know I'd say around four hundred." He said looking at the massive group of angry looking corpses.

"Oh"

"So yeah I don't think the pilot could even land and if he did we both would die unpleasantly. He looked at the timer "...and now I have fifteen minutes."

"I sent the pilot anyways he will be there in seven minutes. So hold on."

"Lupa I just said there was nowhere for him to land so why would you send him!" He shouted angrily.

"Because he doesn't have to land dumbass he can just pick you up with the winch." She retorted.

"Oh yeah...well my dramatic death will have to wait for another day I guess. You just have to ruin everything don't you?" He muttered sullenly.

"I can always call him back." She replied evilly

"Whoa can't you take a joke...please don't call him back."

"I'm just messing with you" she said.

"Alright coulda fooled me"

There conversation was interrupted when one of the creatures took a step closer to him.

"Shit" he groaned

"What, what's going on?" Lupa wondered.

"You might wanna tell the pilot to hurry up." He whispered drawing his rifle. "I think that whatever is holding them back is fading."

"That could be problematic."

"Oh you think" he hissed

"Okay the pilot said he was one minute out."

"Okay got it."

Lucky for Varrus the button to open the hanger bay door was next to the artifact on the wall. He pressed it and the ceiling doors opened letting in the glorious daylight. After the hours of brutal and terrifying darkness the light was like a gift from god. As if the heavens themselves opened to bask him in its warmth.

Then a claw almost decapitated him. "FUCK!" He exclaimed dodging the lethal swipe one of the creatures has managed to push through whatever kept it away. He viciously retaliated by obliterating it in a seething storm of gunfire. The others had not pushed through for whatever reason and as long as it stayed that way he didn't care why.

As he watched them carefully making sure there was no more funny business he could here a wonderful sound. The screeching of a gunships turbines. Then the light from the sun was blocked by the blocky shadow of a Terran gunship. It slowly descended to about forty feet in the air.

"What the hell are those!" Exclaimed the familiar voice of his pilot.

"No time to explain now drop the damn winch!" Varrus shouted while shooting any thing that got to close to him and the timer continued to count down .

"Right sorry there's a bomb." The pilot said as he swiftly lowered the winch. It rapidly fell until it landed next to the pretorian. He quickly attached it and tugged. The pilot deactivated the winch and Varrus flew up to the gunship not before there was one last ditched attempt to kill him as one of the creatures leaped at him. It was brutally shot down as Varrus drained his clip into its rotted face. It hurtled back down to the ground.

Finally getting on the ship Varrus quickly shouted "let's get the hell out of here!" As he climes up the ramp and made his way into the hold.

"Couldn't agree more sir!" the pilot responded enthusiastically and with a burst of speed and roaring engines they escaped.

"Thanks for the save Lupa" Varrus said gratefully.

"All always watch out for you Varrus." She said warmly

"Still...thanks" he then took a minute to rest until he had to get up.

Tiredly making his way to the cockpit he spoke to the pilot. "Get me High Comm priority channel authorization code IN LIBRO FORTUDO COGNOMENTUM"

"Yes sir!" The pilot replied.

As he prepared the link Varrus walked back down into the troop bay. He turned his gaze to the holo table he used less then a day before. "Feels like a year ago" he said to himself.

Suddenly the general appeared before him. "God man you look terrible what happened!"

Looking down he saw his armor and it was gouged,scratched,dented,patched,his visor was cracked, and dried and fresh blood coated him. "Sir we have a problem. The base is unrecoverable I request that you blast it from orbit with several kilotons of ordinance immediately."

"Why"

"Please sir don't waist time we have to do it now!" Varrus exclaimed.

"Alright son don't worry I'll order the bombardment now."

Sighing in relief Varrus slid to the floor. "Good we can't let them get out." He said almost to himself.

"Them?" The general questioned.

"Boy do I have got one hell of a story for you."


	12. Chapter 12

The Swarm War

Chapter 12

"Boy do I have got one hell of a story for you." Varrus said while on the ground.

Three seconds later the video cut to black. "That's the end." Lupa said grabbing their attention. "So do any of you have questions?" While she was saying this the door to the mess opened and Varrus entered.

Varrus after finishing with his plan for the defense of New Arcadia went back down to the mess hall to check on his new crew members. He walked in while Lupa was apparently going over whatever they watched. He stood in the back waiting for them to finish what they were doing when he noticed something odd. For some reason they all started to stare at him when he walked in ignoring Lupa's last question.

Starting to feel uncomfortable with all the intense stares he stuffed to shuffle around where he was standing. "So...uh Lupa what's going on?"

"We just finished the video only a few minutes ago."

"Oh...well that's good" he said still uneasy.

Realizing that the others were staring Lupa quickly came to the rescue. Clearing her throat she got the attention of the group sitting down. "As I was saying if any of you have questions now would be the time to ask. Seeing as Varrus is here you can ask him."

Noticing that he had no idea which of the many of his mission logs they watched he tried to find out. "So Lupa which of the mission records did they watch?"

"They watched the one from last month."

"I did 5 missions last month Lupa."

"The one on...Aquincium." She said at last.

"Ohh...that one" he said getting a little quite. Fox looked at his friends and tried to puzzle out what to say when he was saved by the man in question. "Well then what do you want to know?" Varrus said suddenly back to normal as he made way to sit down at their table.

Fox was the first to speak. "I have to know, why did you go alone?" He was sitting next to Peppy and Slippy.

"Well on the assignment before this one there was only one other Pretorian. He was my best friend Merric he...died." Varrus said sadly taking a moment before continuing. "So only I remained and that Fox was why I went alone."

Feeling a little bad for asking Fox said his tail laid motionless on the floor and ears flat on his head. "sorry I didn't know."

"Don't worry about it Fox how could you have known." Varrus said trying to cheer him up. "So don't feel bad he died saving people it's how he would have wanted to go."

"Okay Varrus I won't" Fox said returning to normal.

"So anyone else have questions to ask?"

Krystal responded "yes I do." She was sitting on the opposite side of him.

Turning to her Varrus said "alright then shoot."

"How did you manage to keep yourself together through all of that? I know I couldn't have done it."

"I have been fighting for a long time Krystal. I was fifteen when i was thrown into my first battle. At one point you learn that you just have to use your fear, your anger, and channel it into something useful. Sure I was terrified but I used that to help keep me alive. So my suggestion to you is to use your emotions don't let them use you."

Taking it to heart she nodded her tail lazily moving around. "Alright I will."

"Excellent anyone else?" He asked.

"Yeah I gotta ask something." Falco said. He was sitting right next to Varrus.

Krystal and Fox glared daggers at him silently warning him not to be like he usually is.

Ignoring them he continued. "You took some serious hits from what I saw and I just have to know, how did you survive?"

Taking a second to gather his thoughts Varrus replied. "You know the augmentation I told you about earlier my healing factor?"

"Yeah."

"Well you see it's allot stronger then you think. I mean I'll still die if the wounds are serious enough but it's enough to keep me going even after most grievous wounds."

"That's pretty cool!" Falco exclaimed.

"Well honestly it still hurts allot. So I try not to get stabbed which in my line of work can't be avoided." Varrus said humorously.

That got a laugh out of everyone. "So anyone else?"

This time it was Peppy who answered. "Tell me Varrus if you saw these things again would you fight them, could you?"

"Yes Peppy I could and would, it's my duty to defend my people no matter the cost. Since our two factions are going to form an alliance you guys will be my people too and I'll do everything in my power to protect you" he said seriously.

Startled that Varrus was adamant about his stance Slippy decided to join the conversation. "We are aliens you only just met. We don't even look like you. So why would you want to help us so easily?"

"You see Slippy it doesn't matter what you look like or who you are, because on the inside we are all still people."

Thinking on what Varrus just said he responded after a little while. "I think I understand what your saying." He said while slowly nodding his head.

Meanwhile Krystal started to feel strange inside she began to feel warmth emanating from her chest. She tried to find out why. It didn't take long for she figured it was after Varrus made his speech on why he would protect them and again when he made the comment on how he thought they all were people and this made her feel happy for some reason. She was fascinated by his personality he gave of a aura of strength and kindness that comforted her. She soon realized she liked being around him. She wanted to spend more time around him and get to know him better. She was brought out of her inner thought when she heard him talking once more.

"Is that all?" Varrus asked. They all nodded in response until Fox suddenly remembered something.

"Wait!" He exclaimed "we forgot to thank you for this food its amazing!" He said gesturing towards the empty plates the others soon voiced similar verdicts.

"Really?" Varrus said.

"Yeah it was awesome!" Slippy replied

"Well your welcome I do like cooking for people. I used to do it for my teammates all the time after a successful mission but when they...all died I kinda stopped." He said with a far off look in his eyes. After a few seconds he turned his attention back to them.

"Anyways now you have two options." He told them. "You can resume your exploration of the ship or rest in your quarters until we arrive at our destination. "I will warn you though the lights dim during the 'night' time on this ship which is in...about 3 hours." He said after looking at his wrist watch. "So try to be finished before that happens." He said as he got up from the table. "If you need anything that Lupa can't help you with or if you just wanna talk I will probably be in my cabin." With that he left the room.

After he left Fox tried to puzzle out what everyone wanted to do. "Alright team" He said "what do you wanna do?" Falco wanted to go back to the armory, Slippy said he would like to check out the engineering deck, Peppy was already leaving to go to the library, and Krystal decided to head back to her room. With that decided fox went to talk with Varrus a little bit more.

It took him a little while to get there but with help from Lupa he made it in a reasonable amount of time. Upon arriving at Varrus's cabin he knocked on the metal door with a dull thud. Within moments the door was opened to reveal the man he was looking for.

"How can I help you Fox?" He said while leaning on the doorframe.

"I just wanted to talk for a little bit as i has some questions to ask you."

"Okay come on in." Varrus said gesturing for Fox to come inside. Once inside He looked around the room as Varrus lead him over to a table near the kitchenette section of his quarters. As he sat down his eyes were drawn to a wall spanning mural depicting soldiers clad in the same type of armor as Varrus standing over a deserted battlefield. The soldiers armor was worn and damaged but some how the mural made it seem like they standing strong and unbroken.

Curious he felt the need to ask "what is that?" motioning towards the mural.

"That my friend was one of the better moments of my life." Varrus responded melancholic.

"What happened?"

"It was two years ago and my brothers and I had successfully rebuffed a major invasion force on one of our inner colonies from the parasite I think it was Verona, millions died during the siege." he said sadly. "Yet it showed that we could stop them, that they could be beaten. It gave us the hope we no longer had but needed. It was one of my proudest moments. Still your not here to listen to my past so I'll ask again what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering" Fox began he took a little while before continuing "if we could help you during the upcoming siege?"

"I told you already I can't risk you our your team they are too important. Not to mention we will probably all die." Varrus groaned frustratedly.

"Not if we help. I know that if we did we could beat them."

"I don't know." Varrus said uncertainly.

"Please Varrus I have to do something I've never stood on the sidelines before and I don't intend to start now." Fox pleaded.

"What happens if you or the others get hurt of even worse killed?"

"We won't." He said with conviction.

Varrus let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair his considerable bulk making it creak. "Your not gonna take no for an answer are you?"

"Nope!" Fox said with a grin on his muzzle.

"Ugh...fine you can help."

"Alright!" He said excitedly tail wagging rapidly.

"Under one condition."

"You name it."

"You have to do exactly what I tell you when I tell you if I say run you run. I tell you you can't go on a certain mission I don't want you to argue you got it?"

"Yes sir!" Fox said enthusiastically.

"Okay since your coming I will have to fill you in on the battle plan." He said as he pulled up a panel on his table and activated a holo map. "This is New Arcadia" he said as a monolithic city materialized on the display. "It's the only city on the planet other plans were scrapped because the population was too small to expand and it would be easier to protect. As you can see it is completely surrounded by massive defensive walls forged of titanium. The walls are a hundred feet high and artillery installation are situated all around. Each section of the wall has its own defense emplacements and guards."

"Sounds formidable." fox said in awe The planets in Lylat didn't have nearly anything like what these Terrans had.

"Yes well there are only about a few hundred thousand legionaries garrisoned in the city with a few armored divisions and a standard garrison of fighters and bombers."

"A few hundred thousand soldiers with tanks and aircraft!"

"Yes it's a relatively small number I'm afraid."

"Small that's more then the entire garrison on Katina!"

"We are going to have to fix that if we survive and make it back to lylatian space. Your planets are going to need a major defensive upgrade and were gonna have to up the recruitment drive.

"Whatever for?" Fox asked.

"I'm sorry to say but your current military strength will be inefficient in repelling any attempt made by the parasite to invade. But we are getting of subject here the point is we don't have enough men."

"Sound like enough." Fox muttered.

"I'm afraid not the enemy will have any between two and three million of their warrior class on the ground supported by large number of armored tank like creatures and a unknowable number of air units."

"That...is allot of bad guys."

"Not really that is a scout force for their army."

"Scout force!"

"Yes scout force."

"But that's huge!"

"A full invasion force can have anywhere from twenty to thirty million."

Fox felt a cold jolt of fear "is that how many are coming to Lylat?"

"Luckily not, only a medium sized invasion fleet was detected."

"Phew" Fox said rubbing his muzzle "I thought we were screwed so how many are in a medium sized invasion force?"

"Anywhere from ten to fifteen million."

Fox started to get worried. "That's still a ton of enemies."

"Yes but they will be spread out evenly among all the planets they are going to attack. That will work in our favor as each planet will only have to contend with a portion of the full force."

"For some reason that doesn't fill me with confidence." Fox sourly replied.

"Don't worry fox when we finish up here we will make haste back to your home and begin to plan a defense. I will do whatever I can to defend your home." He said reassuringly putting a hand on Fox's shoulder.

"Thanks Varrus that makes me feel allot better."

"Don't mention it. Plus we have plenty of time before they get there as they are still many months from even being close enough to be a tangible threat. Now what do you think you can do in this current siege that could be useful?"

"Well as you probably know we are all really good pilots but only Falco and I have any real ground combat experience besides Krystal I think."

"Well in the beginning I think that you and your team would be best utilized in the air before the enemy manage to breach the gate or a part of the wall assisting the air assets we have. After that you could wait at the command center until I can find somewhere you can still help but not be in terrible danger."

"Where would suggest?" Fox wondered.

"I think that you guys could defend one of the civilian shelters if worst came to pass. I'll warn you the parasite is like nothing you've ever fought before you must be prepared. Before the real battle starts I will try to impart what knowledge I can."

"Alright sounds like a plan."

"Was that all you needed Fox?"

"Yeah Varrus I feel much better now that we won't just sit on our asses while you go off to fight." Fox said as they got up from the table.

"I know you wanted to help I was just concerned about your guys safety but since your so adamant about helping I will take what help I can." He said as he lead Fox to the door.

"Thanks for listening Varrus." The vulpine said as he left the room.

"Of course now I suggest you get your rest you will need it." The man replied as he moved to close his door.

"Well first I have to tell the team what I volunteered them for." Fox said under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing just talking to myself." The vulpine said suspiciously.

"Ok then see you later Fox." With that the door closed and Fox made his way to find the members of his team. At the same time Falco was still absorbed in his perusing of the magnificent array of deadly weapons in Varrus vast arsenal. He was so preoccupied he didn't notice when Fox walked in a few minutes later. He attention was on a strange looking long barreled rifle.

"So whatcha looking at." Fox practically shouted in his friends ear. Falco jumped startled and looked back at fox menacingly .

"What the hell man!"

"Sorry I couldn't help it you were just so out of it I couldn't resist." Fox stuttered in between laughs.

"Yeah ha ha very fun." Falco replied sarcastically. "So changing the subject what are we going to do while mr. knight in shining armor saunters of to save the day.

"Well..." Fox began to say while rubbing the back of his headfur. "About that...I may have volunteered our services in helping save the 'day' so to speak."

"Honestly I'm not that surprised." Falco said surprising his friend.

"So...your not mad?"

"No not really I kinda knew we were going to help somehow it's in your nature Fox and from what I could see in that way you and him are allot alike." Falco said in a rare moment of wisdom. "Although you have to do me a favor.

" sure!" Fox exclaimed happy his friend was not upset. "anything!"

"I wanna be able to use that" he said directing their sight to the weapon he was studying intently earlier.

"Ugh" Fox groaned "what is with you and weapons?"

"Come on man help a brother out!"

"Fine, fine I'll see if I can ask him later." Fox said placatingly.

"Yes I get the big gun!" Falco enthusiastically shouted fist pumping.

"Calm down hot shot we haven't even asked him yet."

"It's alright I know he will say yes." Falco confidently replied.

"Yeah well if your done drooling over weapons you should get some sleep I still have to talk to the others and fill them in on the plan."

"I was not drooling!" He said indignantly.

"There some on your beak still."

"No there isn't I wiped it off already!"

"I know but you just admitted to it now." Fox replied smugly.

"Oh shut up." Falco muttered as he left the armory.

Fox was alone in he armory when he asked himself "now where can I find peppy." He muttered as he forgot where the old hare said he was going to be.

"You can find mr. Hare in the library" a familiar voice answered his question surprising him.

"Jeez Lupa you almost gave me a heart attack!" Fox frowned clutching his chest.

"I'm sorry Fox it was not my intention." She said politely

"It's fine just try not to be so sneaky and thanks for helping me." He replied still holding on to his chest.

"It's what I'm here for and thank you Fox for offering to help Varrus I worry about him and it makes me feel much better now that there are people who will watch out for him again." She said gratefully.

"Don't mention he seems like a stand up guy and I hope to one day call him a friend." He said shrugging off her thanks. "So think nothing of it." Soon afterwards he made his way to talk to peppy.

He found the old hare buried in a pile of books that from the looks of them were historical records from human history. "I though I'd find you nosing around old books." Fox said from the doorway.

"Yes you know me well Fox" he said distractedly still focusing on the current book he was captivated by.

"Anyways I came to tell y..."

"That you plan on helping out our new friend on his mission i know." He said cutting of the man who was practically his step son.

"Am I that easy to read?" Fox muttered grumpily.

"For me maybe but not the others" Peppy replied finally putting down his book and taking of his reading glasses. "I raised you Fox I know you better then you think."

"Yeah I know."

"So is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"Pretty much besides that you should probably get some rest before we leave."

"I thought i ordered you around mister." Peppy replied in a fake grumpy tone before shortly saying "I'm just messing around alright fox let me just wrap up here and il leave shortly."

"Ok Peppy now I guess I just have Slippy and Krystal left."

"Slippy actually already went to rest in his room. Something about amazing technology tiring him out or some such techno babble."

"Well I guess I can tell him when he wakes up. Fox said as he started to leave. That leaves Krystal then see you later peppy."

"See you later Fox." He said already back to reading his book. With a chuckle Fox made his way back to the cabins that they had been assigned. He arrived after a few minutes worth of walking down corridors this truly was a huge ship he thought to himself. He spied her door and made his way to it.

He went to Krystal's door and started to knock. "Coming." He heard a kind feminine voice call out. The door opened to reveal the vixen in question she must have just showered as her fur was slightly damp and she was in a bath robe that she must have brought aboard the ship. Her tail was distractedly weaving behind her fanning the air with its fluffy mass.

"Sorry if I'm intruding." Fox said upon seeing her state of dress. "If you wish I could come back later."

"Oh don't worry Fox." She said sweetly "come in" he entered her room and she gestured for him to sit on her bed. She was brushing her long silky hair when she began to talk. "So what do you need Fox?"

"Oh I don't need anything I was just coming to let you know that I managed to convince Varrus to let us help him."

"That's wonderful!" Krystal said doing a little twirl before giving a little blush when she realized what she did.

Fox smirked "so any particular reason your so happy and eager to help?"

"No!" She shouted a little to quickly.

"Sure." Fox replied knowingly "anyways I just wanted to make sure you were onboard with my plan and considering your actions I suppose you are." He said with a smile as he went to leave the room. Before he left Krystal asked him one last question.

"What do you think of Varrus?"

"I think that so far he has shown himself as a kind, caring, and honorable man." He replied looking back to her from the door.

"I think so to." She said almost dreamily.

"Get some sleep Krystal I'll see you in the morning." And with another smirk he left the room and went to his own. Heading to his own room he got ready for bed and climbed in once he was finished. Surprisingly the bed was very comfortable and he soon found himself drifting of to sleep. His last thought was that tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	13. Chapter 13

The Swarm War

Chapter 13

Fox had left her room a few minutes ago by then she had finished brushing her hair and got ready for bed. Krystal laid in her bed for an entire hour but for the life of her could not sleep. Her thoughts occupied by Varrus as she tried to puzzle out what he meant to her. She was too restless deciding that a walk would do her some good she went to the terminal in her room and called for Lupa. After severely seconds holographic wolf formed on the small holo emitter next to the device.

"How can I help?" She asked with a bow.

"I was just wondering" Krystal started to say "if there was anywhere on the ship one could go to relax?"

"There just so happens to be a garden at the very top most deck." Lupa replied conveniently.

"A garden?" Krystal asked "on a military ship?"

"Yes Varrus requested that one be put in a few days after the incident on Aquincium. So it is a relatively new addition to the ships overall design.

"Oh well that sounds like a nice place to relax."

"Indeed Varrus spends many hours there in his free time."

"Do you think you could take me there?" Krystal asked hopefully.

"If that is what you wish." Lupa replied with another small bow. With that being said Krystal hurriedly tossed on a robe for modesty and with Lupa's guidance made her way to her destination. Taking a couple of minutes they soon arrived at the door to the garden. "Here you are." Lupa said.

"Thanks for the assistance." Krystal said gratefully.

"I live to serve." Lupa replied with a small smile before disappearing leaving the corridor in shadow as it was on the ships night cycle. Nervously standing in the dark Krystal quickly opened the door and stepped inside.

Inside she was momentarily startled as the garden was quite beautiful. It surprisingly large but the most breathtaking thing was the ceiling . It was composed entirely of some type of reinforced glass. This allowed her to see the magnificent beauty of the cosmos. She spent many minutes staring into the awe inspiring constellations eventually she brought her sight back to the garden she had originally come for. She walked among the strange yet also familiar plant life. She was particularly interested in a group of strange red flowers they were quite beautiful. She was shaken out of her study of these interesting flowers when she suddenly heard a melodic tune in the distance. Curious she went to investigate it didn't take long for her to unveil the source of the strange melody.

She arrived at a small patio like structure at the heart of the garden. She was hidden by the tree line as she watched what had grabbed her attention. Sitting at one of the many tables on one of the many chairs sat the one who occupied a large portion of her mind. It was Varrus and from what she could see he was absently gazing at the stars with some sort of cup of unidentifiable liquid in his hands steam was lazily wisping out of the cup. He was in some sort of casual clothing a simple shirt,pants,jacket, and was wearing a pair of boots. She heard the music that had grabbed her attention coming from a little gadget placed on the table in front of him. It was playing some sort of soft orchestral piece that perfectly fit with the setting he was in.

While she was busy taking in all this new information a gust of wind shook her out of her thoughts. It would seem that this place had a sophisticated climate control system. Krystal suddenly realized she was in a loose outfit if you could even call it an outfit,that was ill suited for such cold conditions. So preparing herself she stepped out of the shadows and made herself known. "Hello Varrus."

She had startled him it seemed as he was jolted out of his reverie of the stars and turned to look at his visitor. "Krystal what brings you here?" He asked obviously surprised to see her.

"I needed to go for a walk and Lupa suggested that this was the place to go to unwind." She explained.

"Of course she would." He said knowingly to himself. After a brief moment he noticed that she was still standing where she had revealed herself. "Please have a seat." He gestured to the seat next to him.

Thankful she moved to the place specified. As she got close he got up from his seat and pulled hers out for her. "Thank you." She said sweetly as he pushed it in and resumed his own seat.

"It was my pleasure" he replied kindly. Then seeing her state of dress as he was too enthralled by her breathtaking appearance to register what she was wearing earlier became suddenly worried. "Krystal you don't seem to be dressed for this type of weather."

Looking down at her state of apparel she began to blush heartily and close her robe more securely. "I didn't think it would be this cold and I thought I would be alone." She honestly answered back holding her tail to her chest in an effort to stay warm.

"Would you like something hot to drink?" He asked politely seeing that she was freezing.

"That would be wonderful." She said thankfully. "It's awfully cold in here."

"Indeed the weather control system likes to keep this place really cold." Thinking if a way to warm her up he had an idea. "Have you ever had something called hot coco?" He asked as he stood up.

"Yes I have and I have to say it's rather good" Krystal said with a smile.

"Excellent would you like some?"

"I would love some!" She said enthusiastically tail bobbing side to side expectantly as soon she let it go. Shortly after receiving her answer Varrus made his way to a machine she hadn't noticed sitting on one of tables near the rails of the patio. Quickly grabbing a cup he filled it up with the warm chocolate drink and brought it to her. As his hands met with her paws when he handed it to her they both blushed and he hurriedly went back to his seat.

She took a small sip to help warm herself up. "Aahh" she said with a contended sigh. "Its just as good as the last cup I had."

"That's good considering I made it myself." Varrus said happy that there was someone who appreciated his cooking again.

"Really?" Krystal said surprised.

"Yep I made it from scratch." He said with pride layering his voice. Unfortunately he could see she was still shivering. The hot drink must not have been enough to keep her warm. He had another idea so he got up and went to her chair. She watched him curiously trying to figure what he was doing. Her question was answered when he took off his jacket and gently laid it on her shoulders. Almost immediately she stopped her shaking.

"You didn't have to do that." Krystal said the white spots on her fur turning a light shade of pink.

"I couldn't let a beautiful women like you go cold." Varrus said with conviction.

Blushing even harder she wrapped the coat around herself tightly while still managing to hold on to her cup of precious liquid warmth. "Your to kind." She said quietly.

"Think nothing of it." He said with a comforting grin. When she saw his smile she felt all the coldness she had leaving her body to be replaced with the warm feeling she started to attribute to whenever she was around him. Krystal suddenly found herself gazing deeply into his eyes becoming lost in there welcoming brown depths. When she realized what she was doing she hurriedly broke eye contact. Still she noticed he was continuing to smile as he asked his next question.

"So since you are here is there anything you would like to talk about?"

"Actually I was just here to relax I didn't expect that anyone else would be here." She said offhandedly. When she looked back to Varrus he has a slightly disappointed and hurt look. Quickly she reviewed what she had said in her mind and realized that it could be interpreted as uncaring and dismissive. "Of course since that there is someone here I would love to talk." Krystal said hurriedly nervously running her free hand through her tail. The smile she was beginning to want to see reappeared. "Why did you have this garden built it seems out of place on a warship?"

"It all started when I came back from Aquncium. I went to a planet called New Jerusalem to visit the tomb of an old friend and report to my commander. After the events on Aquincium I was slated as emotionally compromised." He said starting his tale.

"How?" She asked him.

"You see, the artifact emitted a signal that over a long period of time began to warp peoples minds."

"Right." She said upon remembering when he was looking over the console and encountered the information.

"I wasn't there long enough to receive any lasting harm but there were some...'side effect'" he said with a shiver.

"Like what?" Krystal wondered curiously.

He seemed reluctant to divulge the information but after a few moments he relented. "Some times..." He began quietly "my dead friends came to torment me they came almost every few hours." Krystal was horrified she couldn't imagine seeing your closest friends who has passed on harassing you endlessly she tried to comfort him by placing her paw on his arm. Once her touch graced his arm on the table he seemed to relax placing his other hand on hers. "I tried to ignore them but the longer they went ignored the more vicious they became they couldn't do any real damage as they were simply the manifestations of the signal in my mind. But they could torture a mans most important tool, his mind. Eventually the evaluator told me to go for walks to clear my head and hopefully that would do something to help my condition because he was out of ideas.." He said with more confidence with Krystal's support. "That's when I found it."

"It?" She said puzzled.

"Yes it was a garden you see" he started "there was this little garden inside the base. Some soldier must have had a green thumb and made it in his spare time. Yet while I was there I felt at peace for the first time in a very long time." He said his eyes looking out into space he looked at ease his muscles relaxed and he had a faint smile and his eyes were less haggard. "The garden had calmed me down and to this day I can't quite place why. Perhaps it was the abundance of life there counterbalancing all the death I found in that dark place." He said more to himself them to Krystal. Still she listened in an effort to understand the kind of person he was and what he has been through. "Anyways soon after I was cleared for duty again I asked that a garden be placed on the ship noticing the effect it had on me the evaluator approved with admirable haste and so the story ends." He said returning his attention back to her.

"That's an interesting story." She replied her focus entirely on him and then the garden. "It does seem to have a calming aura to it and I can feel the life in all the plants."

"Ah yes I almost forgot you are a telepath" he said after hearing her last statement. "Tell me what is it like."

She took a few minutes to collect her thoughts before speaking."Imagine that everyone you see is like an open book." She began "each one tells a different story most are normal but a few are stories you wish you had never read. Not everyone has normal thoughts some people are strange."

"Have you been in my mind?" Varrus questioned her.

"Honestly" she looked down at her cup embarrassedly ears flat on her head. "I did try the first time we met but I couldn't access your mind. Your mind is one of the most guarded I have ever come across.

"That's probably because of all the conditioning I went through in boot. They forced us to train our minds as much as we trained our bodies."

"Why would they do that?"

"They did it so we would be better in every way compared to the average soldier, we would have to command entire fields of war and be smart enough to use every advantage we could in the hopes of stopping the tide of monsters threatening our empire."

"That's allot of responsibility."

"It was and still is but I take comfort in the fact that every battle I win helps defend my people and bring them hope. Let's not dwell on that or me why don't you tell me about yourself." He said trying to bring the meandering conversation back to her.

"I don't know I'm not all that special." She said looking down at the floor.

"Don't say that all people are special and unique."

"How could you say that ?" She wondered.

"Everyone is different no one is or ever will be the same we all have our quirks that make us different. We should cherish all that makes us unique and be proud of who we are."

She looked thoughtful "I never thought like that before.

In any case here are also things I don't feel like talking about."

"Sometimes we all need a change in perspective that's all, and if you don't want to tell me about yourself now that's alright I can wait."

"Ok thanks Varrus."

"No problem anytime, now" he said getting up from his chair "it's pretty late and we should get some sleep before tomorrow we're going to have some long days ahead." He turned to Krystal and helped her up from her seat. He noticed that the pads on her hand were warm and soft like velvet. "You have very soft hands." He blurted out and then his tanned skin turned a noticeable shade of red.

"Thank you." She said with a little giggle.

Trying to blunder a way through his absent minded comment he stuck his arm out. "Would you like an escort to your room?"

"That would be delightful!" She said exuberantly putting her arm through his. He lead her out of the garden they made a little small talk for a couple of minutes until they arrived at her door.

"Here's your room milady." He said bowing theatrically inciting another giggle from her.

"Thank you for the escort sir knight." She said playing along.

"Tis my duty fair lady."

"Such a noble knight deserves a just reward." She then kissed him softly on the cheek. "Thank you for talking with me."

"You can always count on me Krystal." He said "we haven't known each other long but I'll do what I can to help you."

"I appreciate that Varrus." She said hugging him.

Varrus was lost in the wonderful sensation from her hug her fur was soft and warm. He didn't realize that they were embracing each other for a long time. When he did figure it out he drew back. "If you want when we come back from this mission we can talk more on the way back to Corneria." He suggested.

"That would be wonderful." She said before opening her door and stepping inside. Varrus turned to walk away when he heard her call out. "Oh and Varrus thanks for everything."

"What have I done?" He said confusedly.

"Thank you for coming to a star system that isn't yours and endangering your ship, Lupa and yourself for people you don't even know." She explained.

"It's my duty ma'am." He said seriously. "And a privilege." He said with the smile she craved before turning to walk down the hallways to his own room. She watched him go for a few seconds then closed her door and went to her bed. She then remembered she was still wearing the jacket he had given her. So she took it off and then began to study it. It was a jacket made of some unknown leather it was supple yet sturdy and was still warm from her body heat. She brought it to her muzzle and took a deep breath his scent was still on the jacket and the smell comforted her. She laid it on the bed and took of her robe and snuggled with it under the blankets. She soon pieced out she was falling for the human and she couldn't be any happier.


	14. Chapter 14

The Swarm War

Chapter 14

The next morning Varrus awoke in his bed. He recalled having a pleasant dream where he and Krystal were talking at a nice restaurant. The specifics were hazy but it was an all around nice dream. Sadly he could not donate any more of his time to think about it because he had to prepare for the upcoming engagement. He shifted out of the bed into a standing position and readied himself for the day in the lavatory. Once he was finished he came out in a fresh crisp armored uniform and headed out of his cabin. Exiting his room he set his path to the bridge after a time he found himself at his destination. He walked in to find Lupa's visage already waiting for him.

"Hey Varrus good morning." She said happily virtual tail wagging and with a broad smile adorning her muzzle.

"Hello Lupa good morning to you too." He replied with an equally large smile. "So how fares my ship?" He asked her trying to gauge its combat effectiveness. For they would need to be ready when they arrived.

"The ship is running at peak efficiency. I have been maintaining it thus since we came to the Lylat system." She told him with well earned smugness.

"Good, now how are the shield systems?" He asked as he sat down on the captains chair. It gave off a small groan in protest of his considerable weight but was made to hold him so it held.

"All shield emitters are functioning properly at full strength."

"Alright shields are good how fair are weapons batteries?"

"All rail guns are ready, lance batteries are ready except for the forward lances as they are slightly misaligned but will be adjusted shortly, pilum missile pods are fully armed, the ballista and onager launchers are operational, and last but not least the Armageddon cannons are locked and loaded."

"Excellent work Lupa is there anything you can't do?" He said with another of his grins.

"Thank you Varrus and no I can do everything." She said smugly causing them both to laugh.

"Now" he began "what is the status of our fighter and bomber drone flights?"

"All gladius fighters are fueled and ready for launch and the scutum bombers are being tended to as we speak. In other words the VENGEANCE is at maximum combat effectiveness." She finished.

"That's more good news, since we are so well prepared can you tell me when we will arrive in system?" He asked.

"Yes Varrus we will be exiting slipspace in approximately one hour." She answered. While they were talking the heavily armored bridge doors opened to reveal Fox and his crew as they walked into the room.

Varrus turned in his chair to face them with a "Good morning." He shared a quick smile with Krystal before turning to Fox.

"Hey Varrus." Fox said in response. "I take it we are close to arriving?"

"Indeed we are only an hour away." He told the orange furred vulpine.

"Sounds great, I was also wondering if you wanted us to get ready to pilot our Arwings?"

"I'm afraid not, you guys are going to have to sit out this naval battle.

"Why?" Falco indignantly replied much to Fox and Krystal's annoyance.

"Well Falco," Varrus began calmly "the enemy will have a huge battle group where as we will only have the meager colonial garrison and whatever they managed to scrape up. The garrison will most likely consist of only a few dozen ships. With a couple hundred fighters so if you went out in your Arwings you would almost certainly be overwhelmed."

"Oh" he said dumbly eliciting a smile from everyone.

Slippy decided to change the subject. He knew they were going to fight later as Fox had filed him in on the way up to the bridge. "I've seen your ship and I have to say its amazing!" He said enthusiastically.

"Thanks." Varrus said with a smile. "I spent along time designing it to my satisfaction."

"You must have because it's a marvel of engineering!" Slippy exclaimed with a ongoing excited tone.

"If you really like the ship so much I can give you some of the schematics for some of the systems, if are alliance pulls through." He told the quivering frog. At the thought of getting to see the way this ship was built and having access to parts of the design he almost had a heart attack.

"Really!" He squeaked which was in Varrus's opinion very unfrog like.

"Why certainly." After hearing that the poor frog fainted. After seeing this Varrus voiced his concern "will he be alright?"

"He'll be fine" Peppy explained with a chuckle "he just needs time to calm down." He said while looking at the almost comatose amphibian.

They could faintly hear him muttering about schematics and ship design as they moved him to one of the seats close to the captains chair before taking the other ones.

"So," Fox said "what can we do?"

"You can stay here on the bridge while I contact the naval garrison and organize a static defense." Varrus offered.

"That sounds like a plan." Fox said acceptingly.

"With that settled is there anything you wish to discuss before we return to real space?" Varrus questioned.

"Yes" Falco spoke up getting a warning glance from Fox "I wanted to know that when we went to the ground side portion of this battle if I could use that lovely looking weapon in your armory?" Upon hearing this Fox looked at Falco with a sigh.

"Your relentless."

"Yep" Falco replied before returning his gaze back to Varrus.

"What gun are you talking about because there are many weapons with even more variants that I have stored there?"

Falco took a couple seconds to describe it "it's the one you have near the back it is a long barreled weapon with a interesting looking scope and I think it used ballistics." He explained.

"Ah" Varrus said understandingly "you must be talking about the X-57 MALICE rail gun. I suppose you can use it but you will have to be trained to fire it. It has more recoil then you could probably handle."

"I could handle it!" Falco indignantly cried out.

"The man who tested the prototype had to get his arm reattached." Varrus deadpaned.

"I guess you could teach me." Falco muttered.

After that short conversation Varrus began to speak.

"Ok now since we have some time I'm going to go over the enemy types and classification with you. They all agreed as they were interested in finally seeing the face of their enemy.

Varrus activated the huge holotable in the center of the bridge and selected the button that would bring up all the relevant information pertaining to the parasite. The first image he summoned forth was of a small ugly quadrupedal beast with strange blade arms. It was covered in white and red chitin. It's head was huge and it had a terrifying maw filled with sharp dagger like teeth. The arms of the creature were little more then razor bladed weapons. "This is what we call a blade spinner. It is one of the most common monsters they field. It may look small but it's average height is at around three feet. It will go into a berserker rage when in range of its target and will not be easily brought down. It's weaknesses are in the points that connect the blades to its limb which can be severed with relative ease. Typically they make up fourty percent of any invasion force they are in."

"Those sound pretty lethal." Fox gulped.

"Unfortunately if you guys think they are bad I'm sorry to say they are the least dangerous of all the beasts." Varrus regretfully informed them. They all let out a sad breath of air as they listened intently as Varrus named the beasts and told them of the weakness they would have to memorize

"Blade spinners come in a ranged variant called toxin casters" Varrus pulled up another picture, this time of a type of creature similar in appearance to the last one but sported what looked like a ranged weapon grafted to its arm. "They are not as numerous as their blade wielding cousins but are much more dangerous. There weapons shoot out bio plasm that can eat through most types of armor and can even effect heavy armored vehicles. Luckily it has the same weakness as it's close relative the blade spinner and another one which is on the weapon appendage. If you are accurate enough to hit that spot." He motioned towards a place on the monsters weapon highlighted in red. "The gun arm will either explode or leak the heavily acidic toxin back on to the creature."

He changed the image again to this time show a towering monstrosity that even in its picture struck fear into their hearts.

"The most dangerous of the all the infantry class is the juggernaut" Varrus said ominously. "This particular entity stands at nine feet tall and had blades as well as a heavy bio plasm launcher. It is often seen leading packs of the lesser breeds into battle. It has almost no weaknesses due of its heavy chitin armor and the ones it does have can only be reached with a lucky shot, with a precise sword stroke,or long periods of sustained fire. The other infantry types will not be in this battle as they are more suited to stealth and as such we will not need to go over them. That being said we will now focus on the beasts equivalent of armor support."

Varrus then pulled up an additional set of images the first one of a long centipede like bug. "The behemoth is the largest of their heavy armor. It can be anywhere from fifty to sixty feet long and will have a bio plasma cannon on its back. The cannon is strong enough to take damage the shields of a scout Titan."

"Scout Titan?" Slippy wondered, it seemed that he woke up from his unexpected nap at the sound of more interesting tech.

"Correct in order to combat the larger parasites, which luckily will not be fielded here, we built massive bipedal walkers called titans. The bad news is that the Titan garrison has not arrived and so we will not be able to call on their help." Varrus explained.

"Those sound cool!" Slippy said with his trade mark technological enthusiasm.

"They are a sight to behold." Varrus said with reverence. "I have had the honor of being stationed on a Overlord class Titan for a few months. Titans are the epitome of humanities engineering and are the most important asset in our continued survival. But we can talk later about titans for now we must finish going over the enemies we will face." Varrus said as he tried to rein them back on to the relevant topic and changed the image to another bug. This time it was a tall spider thing with humongous forelimbs. The creature sent a wave of revulsion through Fox and the others.

"This is a ravager. Standing at about twenty feet tall they are more suited to combating armored vehicles and light infantry. These are the backbone of their anti armor capabilities. Yet they do have one easily exploitable vulnerability, their thorax. If hit enough it will ignite the poison sacks stored inside and cause a very local explosion sending heated venom to all its closest allies."

His lecture was interrupted by Lupa "Captain, we will be entering real space shortly."

He frowned "it appears we will have to go over the rest another time in detail. For now I assume you all have some sort of tac pad?"

"We do." Krystal replied showing him her wrist device.

"Good I'll have Lupa download all the information directly to them."

"We are thirty seconds out." The Female AI cut in shortly after.

Upon hearing this Fox made sure his team was seated and ready as the captain prepared for their arrival.

Varrus readied himself for the upcoming fight and talked to his holographic companion. "Lupa activate shield emitters, warm up all weapons batteries, and prepare to launch drones."

"Yes sir." Lupa gave an unnecessary salute. The swirling purple blue colors outside the bridge were replaced by the blackness of normal space. Everyone's attention was centered on the blue and green marble that was there objective.

Fox was looking at the planet in awe. It looked to be a garden world a veritable Eden. He decided them and there that he would do everything in his power to prevent the monsters from ravaging it.

Varrus meanwhile thankfully noticed that the enemy had yet to arrive. Hoping to expand on that advantage he had Lupa set course to the planet as he tried to raise the defenders on the holo projector.

"Arcadian defense fleet this is the IDF VENGEANCE we are responding to your request for assistance please respond." Varrus said with authority.

Shortly after a image of a sharply dressed aged human with what Fox could only guess were symbols of high rank adorning his uniform appeared on the holo display. "Vengeance this is admiral Terrance Hood of the IDF command carrier Retribution. It's a good to see you again Pretor and I must ask who your...interesting friends are?" He asked after looking around the bridge and seeing Fox, Krystal and the rest.

"It's always a pleasure admiral." Varrus replied with a small smile. "And the people your referring to are emissaries from a newly discovers system I was tasked with helping when I heard of your plight and with their offer of assistance came here post haste." He enlightened the old admiral.

"Interesting." The man mused aloud. "In any case if they want to help they are alright in my book." He said with a youthful grin.

"In any case let's skip the pleasantries we must prepare for the enemies arrival."

"Indeed Pretor."

"Tell me what have you managed to scrounge up to defend this world." At this time Varrus's ship arrived over the planet and they all could see the fleet arrayed before them and it left everyone but Varrus breathless.

"With only a short notice I only managed to call upon eight defiance heavy frigates, ten fury cruisers, two annihilator battleships, five requiem carriers, twelve Olympus destroyers, five shortfang anti-fighter corvettes, seven dawn-breaker long range siege ships, and my personal command carrier."

As the admiral was talking to Varrus Fox and his friends were staring with awe at the fleet of massive ships as theres glided in among them.

"Jeez overkill much!" Falco muttered.

"The smallest ships are the same size as a cornerian dreadnought!" Slippy exclaimed.

Fox got up and walked over to the bridges window with Krystal and Peppy. "This is quite something." He quietly said to his friends.

"Your right Fox these ships are much bigger then our own." Peppy replied.

"How can we hope to beat an enemy that has ships this big?" Fox asked worriedly.

Peppy put a paw on Foxes shoulder "we have Varrus remember he will help us." Peppy answered with confidence. Krystal supported Fox to by giving him a small hug for comfort. This eased his fears somewhat as he held on to his friend. After a little while they speedster and made their way back to where Varrus was. By that time he was standing out of his chair and close to the holotable talking with the admiral. They stood near by and listened in.

"This is quite the quickly assembled force. The enemy might not get to land." Varrus said to the admiral.

The admiral sighed sadly "I'm afraid they still will."

"Why?"

"The deep space scanners picked up a sizable increase in the mass of he incoming swarm." The admiral answered heavily.

"They been reinforced." Varrus figured out. This was troubling to Fox and his compatriots.

"Correct intel says they have increased about thirty percent more then they were previously."

"So they will land." Varrus sighed with resignation.

"Without a doubt." Hood confirmed."the good news is your ship is a game changed now we can actually contest their right to control the skies above Arcadia. You also have your Arcani battle droids."

"Sorry admiral they are currently...not operational." Varrus told him with reluctance.

"That is indeed unfortunate but we can work around that it won't be a disastrous loss."

"Either way we have to prepare for their emergence." Varrus said.

"Right pretor what's the plan?" The admiral asked.

"Seeing as we have more ships then I previously considered I will have to change my plans." Varrus stated "I want you to maneuver the annihilators to either flank of my ship in a standard guard position, we will be the heart of the defense. Put the five requiem cruisers behind us and reinforce their location with the dawn-breakers. Situate the Olympus destroyers at even intervals in a semicircle around the main battle line. I want half the fury cruisers and defiance frigates to be placed on standby the remaining are to plug any holes in our lines and launch all of our fightercraft." When he finished speaking the assembly of ships moved into their designated locations and the carriers and Varrus's ship launched their contingents of fighters. "When will the swarm get here?"

"Scanners show that at their current speed they will be in system in anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour...wait sensors just detected another incoming approach vector, only sixty seconds out!" The admiral shouted grabbing everyone's attention on the bridge. The admiral turned off screen. "Ensign get me a reading on this new development now!"

Everyone was worried that the attack had already started. Slippy gave voice to all of their inner fears "are they hear already?" No one replied as they were hooked on the holotable waiting for the answer. "Another human walked into their view this time a young man he was holding a data slate.

"Admiral I'm detecting a slipspace signature it's one of ours!" He said excitedly.

At this revaluation they all breathed a collective sigh of relief and elation. Soon after hearing that a familiar portal opened a few hundred thousand kilometers in front of the fleet disgorging twelve new ships. "Ensign," the admiral ordered another person this time a young women who was sitting at one of the consoles. "establish connection with our new arrivals."

"Yes sir...connection established."

"This is captain Grimaldus of task force Orion." A grizzled middle aged man said after his holo image materialized next to the admirals. "We heard a call for assistance and made great speed to get here before the enemy and it appears our efforts were not in vain."

"Indeed Grimaldus your timing is impeccable the enemy are only about thirty minutes out." The admiral replied.

"That's good news it's good to hear we will be able to help. My task force consists of my battleship, four destroyers, three heavy frigates, and a detachment of legionary carriers."

"Superb news those men will be welcome in the city below." Varrus said grabbing the captains attention.

"Ah Pretor I had a feeling you'd be here these last stands usually have you in them and I thought I saw your ship leading the defense. The captain said with a good natured laugh. His chuckling was ended prematurely when he spotted the strange beings that were on the Pretor's bridge. "Pretor..," he said slowly "you appear to have some of the aliens we contacted on your bridge do mine eyes deceive me?"

"They do not Grimaldus these are the delegates that I was supposed to head back to their home system with when I got the call to turn around and head back here. How do you know about them?" Varrus also asked.

"Most of the officers in the fleet know and some of the rank and file too it's almost common knowledge now." The older man replied before turning to look at them. "Might I inquire as to what your names are good fellows and lady?" He addressed to the starfox team.

Fox was the one to speak "sure the names Fox Mccloud."

"Peppy Hare" the old hare said.

"Slippy Toad" the amphibian squeaked.

"Falco Lombardi" the avian said with his usual arrogance.

"Krystal" the vixen answered with a demure wave and a flick of her tail.

"A pleasure to meet you all." The captain said before turning back to Varrus. "I have to ask Pretor why are they hear this is not exactly a place for politics?" He questioned

"They are also mercenaries and have pledged their assistance in this battle." Varrus said looking back to Fox briefly where he gave a short nod of thanks which was returned.

"In that case I'll say the more the merrier!" The captain jovially chuckled.

"Yes well I want you to form up on the battle line and land those carriers and unload those soldiers inside the city we are running out of time." Varrus brought their focus back to the upcoming battle.

"Of course Pretor I'll set course immediately." Grimaldus saluted with his fist to his chest before he left the holotable. Shortly after his ships moved to reinforce the defensive line and the carriers moved to enter atmosphere. The annihilator joined its brothers although it was below the Vengeance. The other ships moved to key location around the other points of defense.

The admiral looked to the Pretor and gave off a tired smile "it seems that we lucked out today."

Suddenly Lupa gave out a warning "Commander the sensors showed a drastic increase of acceleration for the incoming swarm, they will be here in seconds!" She cried out.

"Damn!" Varrus growled "prepare the fleet now!" he told the admiral who saluted quickly and cut the connection without a word. Varrus then turned to Lupa "quick I want firing solutions ready for when they arrive and get the drones in a testudo formation around our ships." He called out in rapid fire.

She quickly complied when in a flash of green light the enemy fleet emerged. Aboard every ship every person looked out upon the swarm. It was massive there was over a hundred bio ships to there sixty and thousands of little drone fighters.

"So it begins." Varrus said stoically. "Lupa prepare to fire."


	15. Chapter 15

Authors Note

Just to give a little perspective I've released the information for the Terran Empire and Parasite Swarm ships and fleet size.

Terran Empire

Defiance Heavy frigate

Fleet Count-11

Size-5km

Armament-Three lance batteries, eight rail-guns, one hundred pilum missile launchers, and eight point defense guardian flak gun batteries.

Fury Cruiser

Fleet Count-10

Size-8km

Armament-Four lance batteries, ten rail-guns, two hundred pilum missile launchers, fifteen guardian point defense flack gun batteries.

Requiem Carrier

Fleet Count-5

Size-8km

Armament-Two lance batteries, five railguns, one hundred and fifty pilum missile launchers, and two hundred and fifty Gladius fighters, two hundred fifty Scutum bombers, and ten guardian point defense flak gun batteries.

Shortfang Anti-Fighter Corvette

Fleet count-7

Size-1.5km

Armament-One lance battery, two rail-guns, ten pilum missile launchers, and twenty guardian flak gun batteries.

Annihilator Battleship

Fleet Count-3

Size-12km

Armament-Two armageddon cannons, fifteen lance batteries, forty five rail-guns, four hundred pilum missile launchers, and thirty guardian flak gun batteries.

Olympus Destroyer

Fleet Count-16

Size-8km

Armament-One Armageddon cannon, ten lance batteries, thirty rail-guns, three hundred pilum missile launchers, ten guardian flak gun batteries.

Dawn Breaker Siege Ship

Fleet Count-7

Size-7km

Armament-Three Armageddon cannons, four lance batteries, twenty five pilum missile launchers, nine guardian flak gun batteries.

Vengeance Über Dreadnought

Fleet Count-1

Size-25km

Armament-Six Armageddon cannons, forty five lance batteries, ninety rail-guns, one thousand pilum missile launchers, and seventy guardian flak gun batteries.

Four hundred Gladius fighters, and four hundred Scutum bombers (Drones).

Fleet Total-60

Parasite Swarm

Kraken Cruiser

Size-7km

Swarm Count-16

Appendages-Four bio toxin casters, ten spike ejectors, one hundred spore launchers, and three drone nests.

Leviathan battleship

Size-10km

Swarm Count-14

Appendages-One bombardment plasma cannon, thirteen spike ejectors, five bio toxin casters, one hundred and twenty five spore launchers, and nine drone nests.

Swarm Carrier

Size-5km

Swarm Count-10

Appendages-Seven spike ejectors, two bio toxin caster, two hundred spore launchers, and thirty drone nests.

Eviscerator Cruisers

Size-3km

Swarm Count-34

Appendages-Two spike ejectors, thirty spore launchers, and two drone nests.

Predator Heavy Frigate

Size-5km

Swarm Count-14

Appendages-Four spike ejectors, one bio toxin caster, fifteen spore launchers, and six drone nests.

Reaper Frigate

Size-4km

Swarm Count-45

Appendages-One spike ejector, ten spore launchers, and four drone nests.

Swarm Total-140

That's all the ship types that will participate in this engagement.

Enjoy the chapter!

The Swarm War

Chapter 15

Fox and his friends were standing by Varrus who was sitting in the captains chair. They all gazed at the enemy swarm with a feeling of dread. There were over a hundred enemy vessels situated only five hundred thousand km away. "That's allot of ships." Fox muttered.

"Yeah..." Falco said distractedly.

Krystal was visibly shivering with her tail stiff as a board as she stood next to Varrus. Noticing this he brought his right hand around and grasped her coinciding paw and squeezed it comfortingly. Soon after she calmed down she turned to him and gave him a grateful smile which he returned.

"What do we do?" Slippy asked nervously.

"We fight." Varrus replied his voice flecked with steel. Letting go of Krystal's paw reluctantly he activated the holotable and contacted Admiral Hood. The weathered man appeared shortly.

"It seems that the enemy has arrived early."

"Indeed so." Varrus confirmed "I take it the fleet is ready?"

"They know there duty." The admiral said solemnly.

"That's all they need."

"What are your orders Pretor?"

Varrus took a minute to finalize his thoughts. "Maintain all ship positions except for the dawn breakers. Move them to a parallel vector to my ship and target the closest, and biggest enemy vessels."

"Orders received Pretor." The admiral said with a brief salute. The ships in question moved to their new locations. "Targets are two leviathan battleships and a kraken cruiser the other ships around them are also within range." He informed Varrus.

"Excellent when the firing solutions are finalized you are clear to engage." Varrus said as he added another 'screen' to the holotable showing the enemy fleet in comparison to his own. The table did him the courtesy of labeling the ships on both sides by class and size.

Fox looked out the window with Falco as they watched the forms of seven ships move to align with their designated targets. These ships were seven km long with segmented heavy armor plating and were heavily gothically influenced. Each ship had three long barrels placed equidistant on the prow. The huge barrels began to alight with barely restrained power until finally they erupted. Each barrel exhumed a huge pulsating slug of dense plasma. These massive glowing rounds hurtled through the vastness of space faintly leaving a trail of cooling particles. After a short amount of time they closed in on the enemy fleet.

"Whoa..." Fox said speechless his muzzle hanging open at the power contained in those deadly cannons.

"We should jury rig one of those onto the Great Fox." Falco said before returning his focus to the speeding projectiles.

The enemy fleet was arrayed in no particular order they were just assorted into a huge cluster as they sat there ominously. For some odd reason the ships did not deem it necessary to evade as they just sat there watching the slugs draw near. Finally they connected, in a blazing flash of pure devastation they impacted against there targets.

The smaller kraken creature was gutted from bow to stern spewing what appeared to be entrails into the freezing unforgiving climate of space where they flash froze as macabre icicles. It let out a silent death cry as it listed to port and drifted from the kinetic force that was applied to it.

The leviathan battleships fared little better. The forward one was pushed backwards by the force and it's chitin plating crumpled at the effected area as plasma leaked into the living ship, but otherwise was not fatally damaged. The other one was not so lucky as the slug had tore right through the weaker section of chitin on the lower portion of the bio ship. Unfortunately it wasn't in a critical location so it was still functional.

The other eighteen slugs impacted among the fleet wounding a handful and destroying another two kraken and a predator. Almost immediately the swarm exploded into activity releasing innumerable drones and began to lethargically move to close with the Terran fleet.

Seeing this Varrus contacted his holographic ally "Lupa warm up our Armageddon cannons and target the two lead ships." He said spying two leviathans leading the charge.

"Yes commander."

"Three cannons per ship should do." He mused while scratching his five o'clock shadow.

"Understood." She said with a feral grin.

Fox could feel the deck lightly shudder as the cannons readied to release their lethal payload. Less then a minute later they fired. The bridge shook as the plasma slugs sped towards there targets with barely contained explosive energy.

The two ships targeted were torn asunder. The lead bio ship was hit three consecutive times in the same spot shearing it into a two shredded pieces. Expelling its guts into the void it died in silence. It's companion was slightly luckier but not lucky enough. Only two were solid hits as the final munition only grazed the poor beast. The two good hits connected and bisected the bio ship into two gory pieces.

"Damn look at that!" Falco shouted doing a fist pump with a triumphant grin on his beak "those ships got wrecked!"

"There are still over a hundred of them and the larger vessels are going to be in weapons range momentarily." Varrus warned the ecstatic avian. True to his word the larger bio ships were now within range. They could only watch as the enemy vessels fired retaliatory bio plasma blobs. "All available power to forward shields!" He called out to Lupa who enacted his order with haste. No sooner as the shields were reinforced the enemy's return fire impacted against there smaller fleet. His ships shields barely dropped a percent but others were not so fortunate.

A fury cruiser 'The Unyielding' was crippled by multiple strikes to the prow when the shields collapsed and was forced to limp back to the rear of their defensive line with erratic bursts from damaged engines. Two dawn breakers 'Belial' and 'Absolom' sustained heavy damage as there shielding was not as potent as there frontline cousins and they at the front of the fleet. The luckier siege ship 'Absolom' was only damaged by a gouge in the starboard armor plating and so remained on the battle line. The unfortunate one 'Belial' was almost gutted by a direct hit amid deck as it tried to turn to avoid a incoming plasma blob which ironically sealed its fate. The ensuing impact had caused a catastrophic reactor leak. The captain ordered his crew to abandon ship and Fox could see life pods jettisoning from the dying ship.

He couldn't help but feel that for some reason they got off lucky in the initial point of the battle. As he was thinking this the enemy slowed to a stop and drones began to rush towards them.

"Lupa tell the admiral to intercept them with our own fighters, and tell him to have the bombers swing back around our fleet and head towards the native satellite" Varrus ordered. She confirmed his orders and vanished no doubt relaying them to the admiral.

Fox was interested in why he wanted the bombers to head out so far from the battle. "Why did you do that Varrus?"

"You'll see Fox just give it time." He replied with a knowing smile. Meanwhile the rest of the team watched the fighters move to engage as they were fighter pilots and happened to be curious of Terran ship designs. One of the small attack craft zipped by the observation window and they got a good look at it.

It was big for a fighter at about roughly forty feet in length much longer then an Arwing. The cockpit was built to be near the front of the craft. Several rotary barrels were placed on the front of the fighter, most likely laser or auto-cannons. It's wings angled downwards and were equipped with a multitude of missiles. The ship was colored in large swathes of black and gold trimming yet it did not seem to be decorative. They faintly glimpsed a symbol of an armored man crushing a blade spinner with his boot with a motto next to it that read 'Bug Stompers'.

The fighter they were watching had by that time regrouped with its squadron and moved to engage the incoming wave of drones. Falco and Fox, the true aviators of the group, could only watch in awe as the two gigantic forces collided in a hurricane of unrelenting fury, weapons fire, and missile exhaust.

The ensuing fur-ball (dogfight) as they called if was bigger then any they had ever seen before. The enemy drones although inferior were far more numerous and almost consumed the Gladuis fighters in a blanket of shear numbers. Thankfully the Terran fighters fielded veterans who knew how to handle a drone swarm so casualties were minimal in the initial scrap.

As if this was some hidden signal the enemy fleet resumed its ponderous lumbering to the Terran defense line. All this time the siege ships had continued to pour rounds down range in order to hopefully reduce the size of the opposing fleet. Sadly they only managed to destroy a handful of krakens and cripple a couple of leviathans. Moments later the two sides had completely reached the firing range and began to exchange titanic barrages of munitions.

Almost immediately two defiance frigates, 'Mastodon' and 'Storm-fury', exploded in a brilliant flash of light having been impaled by a clutch of spikes from a pack of Eviscerator cruisers. Who vanished just as fast from a brace of retaliatory lance beams from a vengeful annihilator battleship 'The Emperors Wrath'.

The annihilator battleships with the help of the Vengeance prevented the enemy from steamrolling their much smaller fleet of ships by solidifying the front line. Varrus looked on in frustration as he saw a a wounded kraken ram into one of the requiem carriers completely bisecting it.

Krystal was stunned by the unbelievable devastation occurring at such speed. It didn't help that she was a telepath and the deaths of all these soldiers could be felt by her as the keening wails of the suffering clawed at her mind. She tried to tune it out but so many were dying it was overloading her barriers that she used to fortify herself. She had huddled up into a small ball of fur and was quaking softly. Varrus who was preoccupied in orchestrating the efforts of the entire fleet looked over to her after feeling somehow that she was in trouble.

Laying eyes on her sorry state he quickly gave fleet control over to Lupa and rushed over to Krystal's side. Meanwhile the ships outside continued to duke it out in a contest of strength and resolve against a relentless onslaught.

"Krystal are you alright?" He asked worriedly. At this time the other members of Starfox had noticed her condition and looked deeply concerned.

All she could do was moan "so much death" and huddle up into a tighter ball.

"Slippy!" Varrus shouted out "get her down to the infirmary!"

"W-where is that?" The amphibian asked shaking.

"Lupa will guide you." Varrus answered before making his way back to command the fleet as they needed him more. Even though he was worried for Krystal he had a obligation to his people. Still he sent one last concerned glance back at Krystal as she was helped up by Falco and Fox who handed her to Slippy and Peppy who with aide from Lupa headed down to the infirmary.

Shaking of his worries he refocused on the battle. It was not going well they were down to three quarters strength and the swarm had only lost thirty five ships. At this rate they would not last much longer. They needed something to change level the playing field. Luckily Varrus had a trick up his sleeve. He contacted the admiral.

"Pretor this engagement is not going well." The venerable man said voicing the Pretor's thoughts aloud his face looked haggard as he showed up on the holo communicator.

"So it seems admiral but I have a plan." Varrus said confidently.

"I hope its a good one."

"Do you recall what I commanded you to do with the bombers Admiral?"

With that a spark of understanding lit up the old mans eyes. "Of course there out by the moon!"

"Correct, now order them to flank the enemy fleet."

"At once Pretor!" The admiral all but shouted out with a salute and a grin. With a brief flash of light he dissipated from the holo field to relay the order.

With that done Varrus looked back to the void war. During that short meeting a further three ships had been destroyed a heavy frigate and two of the shortfang anti-fighter corvettes. But not without reaping horrendous losses to the enemy who now had an additional fifteen ships that were not but floating tombs, disgusting monuments to their heinous existence. While he waited for his trump card to move into position he tried to rally his fleet.

"To all Terran Empire vessels this is Pretor Varrus." He began "I know you are all fighting at your best." He praised as he looked out upon the sprawling conflict. "A mere glance out the viewport can attest to the fact." Ships could be seen broadsiding each other from the void equivalent of knife fighting, and Hordes of drones were barely being fended off due to the Valorous efforts of the sorely outnumbered Gladius fighter wings. "Do not lose hope we will be victorious!" His voice soon turned firebrand as he attempted to inspire his beleaguered forces, to galvanize them to do Herculean feats of valor. "They have come to ravage our planet, kill our loved ones, and spread their vile filth ridden carcasses across the stars. We can not and will not allow this to happen. We do this not for ourselves but for all the people who reside on the surface below who are undeserving of such a terrible fate. We! not anyone else, not the politicians who sit on terra and debate the worth of your lives, not the far off commanders who sent you to die, not even the emperor himself for he is to busy managing the affairs of our great and powerful empire, are the ones that can and will defend them. It is our solemn duty, No! our privilege to give our lives for theirs. This is what it means to serve in the Empires legions. That is why our Empires maxim our mantra our axiom the very reason I was created! is what it is.

SEDULAM VIGILANTIUM EH TUERI INFIRMOS!" He exclaimed with passion.

Moments afterwards he cut off his connection to the fleet and sat back down in the captains chair with a tired sigh. Clearly the speech had taken a large portion of his energy. He did not notice Fox and Falco looking at him in amazement. They had never before heard a rousing speech quite like that.

"That sure was something Varrus." Fox said breaking the silence on the bridge.

"I just told them what they needed to hear." He humbly replied.

Fox was still curious "what was that you said at the end is that what we saw on your this ship when we first arrived?"

"That it was."

"What does it mean?"

"It comes from the roots of our Empire over a millennia ago. It loosely translates 'ever vigilant in protecting the weak." Varrus explained to the inquisitive vulpine.

"I like that." The orange furred fox said after a minute. Falco just looked thoughtfully at this new trait that he has seen from this mysterious human.

In the meantime the defenders seemed to have recovered some of their forgotten morale. The fighters could visibly be seen fighting fiercely against overpowering numbers. Each one eliminating a score of the drones. The bigger ships were fighting doggedly denying their monstrous foe even one km of void space. In fact one of the annihilator battleships 'Storm-Herald' had taken too much damage so the heroic captain ordered his ship to charge into the enemy fleet. Gun-crews still firing as it plowed through the substantially larger force before he detonated its fusion plasma core. The ensuing explosion blinded both fleets with its raw power. After the searing light dissipated a full quarter of the enemy fleet was incinerated and the rest were in complete disarray.

Varrus after making a brief prayer for their noble sacrifice commanded the fleet to press the advantage. In a stroke of luck the bombers had just moved into position behind the enemy fleet. Varrus then ordered the fatal hammer and anvil maneuver. With his ship spearheading the charge the wounded fleet rallied around it and pushed into the disorientated enemy. Simultaneously the bombers began there deadly bombardment flanking the now vulnerable enemy.

Perhaps sensing their imminent defeat the bio ships rushed into the vengeful fleet while taking obscene casualties. Varrus was confused as to why they were suicidely pushing forward.

In horror it dawned on him. The planet! Acting quickly he vainly tried to reorient the fleet, but it was too late the remaining dozens of ships had launched their deadly payload of warrior organisms.

Hell had come to New Aquincium.


End file.
